The Crash
by krazi little aus
Summary: Jake is admitted to hospital after a car accident. But he wasn't the one driving. Drug use.
1. Why me?

Jake 

"Come on Jake we don't have all day!" my dad shouted from downstairs.

"Yeah, yeah, hold on," I shouted back and grabbed my mobile off my desk. I raced back downstairs.

"About time too," my dad sighed, dramatically. "All that time for a mobile?"  
"It was less than a minute," I said, underestimating the time slightly. "Are we going or what?"

"Yeah, come on," he kissed my mum goodbye and slapped my brother Tom on the back before exiting the house. I said goodbye and followed him into the car.

My dad and I were spending the weekend out in the country together. He said something about bonding, go figure. But I reckon I'll never get another chance with my dad, so I didn't argue, but if it was my choice, we would be at the arcade. Spending time with my family these days were rare. With all that was going on. School, homework, trying out for basketball, the Yeerks. I know that if I wasn't trying to save the world, I'd sleep better at night. Tom was invited, but as he was a Yeerk, he was too busy trying to infest more people and we wouldn't want to stop that, now would we?

We were well into the country when we started to have a real conversation.

"So how's school going Jake?" he asked awkwardly.

I shrugged, not my area of expertise. "Alright," I said. "Can't say too much on it."

"How's Marco?" he asked, absently.

"He's okay," I said.

"You only seem to hang around him, don't you?" he asked, now getting into the conversation. "Why don't you join the Sharing with Tom? Make some new friends."

"I have friends," I said indignantly. "Besides the Sharing is Tom's thing, not mine."

"Fair enough," he grunted. He paused thinking slowly. "Has Tom been talking to you much?" he asked.

I stared at him, wondering where this was headed.

"Yeah," I said slowly. "But he's more into the Sharing, I suppose."

"Yeah, that's true," he turned to look at me from the drivers seat. "Maybe I should force him to leave the Sharing to spend more time with the family."

"No," I said instantly. I would have given anything for that Yeerk to get out of my brother's head, but I remembered the last time my dad forced Tom to give up the Sharing for three days. It nearly killed them both.

"No," I repeated more calmly. "That's not going to want to spend more time with us."

My dad sighed. "You're right; he'd just hate us more."

I drew a relieved breath. At that moment my mobile started ringing from inside my pocket. I retrieved it and looked at the number displayed on the screen. Rachel.

"Hello," I answered it.

"Hey Jake," Rachel's smooth voice spoke clearly. "Remember me?"

"Hey Rach," I sighed. "What's up?"

"Well, remember we were all supposed to go to the zoo today," she said slyly. "You know animals and all. You wanted to see the tiger and the bear."

"Crap," I said. I completely forgot that we had a meeting in Cassie's barn today. I hadn't shown up.

"Is he coming or what?" I heard Marco's complaining voice in the background.

"So are you coming?" Rachel asked, impatiently.

"I can't," I said, aware that my dad's eyes were on me. "I'm in the country."

"Oh," Rachel's voice sounded disappointed to learn that the mission we had planned was to be cancelled.

"Sorry," I said.

"Hey, look at that car," my dad said, turning his head off the road to look at the Volkswagen that raced past. "What a beauty."

"Dad, look out," I said quickly as we swerved onto the opposite lane.

He started to turn his head back towards the road, but it was too late. The on coming truck was too fast. I saw the shock on the truck driver's face and the pure terror on my dad's before we crashed.

"Jake? Jake, answer me!"

The voice seemed from far away. Very far away. Searing pain crossed my head, my legs, my arms, my whole body. I opened my aching eyes and slowly the picture came into view. I was in a wreckage. A car wreckage. My mobile phone was on the broken dash board. The phone itself was broken, but it still transmitted fuzzy sounds, calling my name.

I groaned and realised I couldn't move my body. I started to panic. I was paralysed, then instantly I knew why I couldn't move, I was stuck, not paralysed. I looked beside me and saw my dad, all bloody and bruised. His eyes were barely open and he struggled to breathe.

"Jake," the voices called frantically. "Jake…" but at that moment the phone went dead.

"Dad?" I coughed, spluttering.

His eyes half closed he answered, sounding like the living dead. "Jake," he sighed. "I am sorry…"

"It's alright, dad," I said, wondering where that truck driver got to.

"Jake," he wheezed. "I'm not going to make it…"

I looked at him and with all my strength, I shook my head. "Yeah you are, dad," I said, watching his strength ebb away.

"Jake, you've made me so proud, you know that?" he said, choking.

"Dad…"

"Let me speak quickly," he coughed. "You and Tom…you've both made my life. Tell your mum…tell her I love her…"

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't move, I couldn't help him. I felt tears start.

Dad started to take huge gaping breaths, struggling to say something more.

"Promise you'll take care of yourself, Jake," he said, starting to close his eyes.

"I promise," I gasped. "Please dad, don't go. Please."

"I love you Jake," he said softly, his eyes fully closed. "I'm so proud of you…"

He didn't say anything more after that.

"Dad?" I sobbed. "Dad, please wake up! Please don't go."

But he didn't wake up, and he never will.


	2. The hospital

**Rachel**

The phone went dead. I hung up and looked at my scared looking friends.

"I'm going over to his house," Marco said, standing up and walking towards the exit.

"Wait, we might be making a big deal out of nothing," Cassie protested.

((A screeching noise, a crash and dead silence is nothing?)) Tobias argued up in the rafters.

"Maybe Prince Jake's phone has simply disconnected?" Ax asked in human morph.

I looked at him. "I doubt it," I turned to Marco. "I'm coming with you."

((I'll fly overhead,)) Tobias said. ((Come on Ax, you're coming with me.))

"Certainly Tobias," Ax said and started changing back into Andalite form.

"Cassie, are you coming?" I asked.

"Yes," she said walking out, followed by Marco. I looked back at Tobias, gave him a small smile and disappeared from his view.

"Everything looks fine," I said, as we walked up Jake's street. "Maybe we did make something out of it we shouldn't have."

"That thing didn't happen here," Marco pointed out, maybe Jake's mum doesn't know about it yet."

A red tailed hawk and a harrier were flying overhead. Tobias and Ax had caught up.

((I wouldn't speak just as yet, Marco,)) Tobias warned. ((Tom and Jake's mum are coming out of the house and his mum looks scared.))

I squinted up ahead and noticed two familiar figures coming out of Jake's house. I started to run towards them and noticed Jake's mum was crying.

"Aunty Jean," I said, running up to her. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, Rachel," she looked behind me at Cassie and Marco. "Your uncle has been taken to the hospital. Jake's there too."

"Are they alright?" Marco asked.

"They wouldn't give me any information over the phone," she said, opening the door to the garage.

I looked at Tom. He looked bored and very angry. I remembered that Jake said something about him having a very important meeting today. He probably wasn't allowed to go now.

Aunty Jean pressed the button to open the car doors. "You can come if you want," she said. "I know how much you all are close with Jake."

"Thanks," Cassie said and climbed into the backseat.

Tom jumped into the front seat and I sat in the middle of Cassie and Marco at the back.

As we drove closer and closer to the hospital, I glanced up to the sky. The red tailed hawk was still there. So was the harrier.

Hospitals are sad, depressing places, especially in the intensive care unit. When we entered, all I could see were people in wheelchairs, on crutches, dragging all kinds of machines with them wherever they went. Aunty Jean stopped every nurse and doctor she came across; trying to get any information out of them, but nobody knew anything or couldn't say anything yet. Finally, after waiting what seemed like forever a stern looking doctor came up to us.

"Are you Jake's family?" he asked.

I looked out of the nearest window and saw Tobias and Ax on a nearby tree. This gave me some strength to hear what the doctor had to say and I turned back to him.

"I am his mother," Aunty Jean said quickly.

"Well then I must ask you to step away from your friends so I can talk to you in private," the doctor said softly.

"It's alright, they are all close to Jake," she said. "Just tell me. What's happened to my husband?"

"Let's just start with Jake," the doctor sighed, obviously keen to get away from my Uncle. "He is unconscious…"

"Is he alright?" I spluttered.

The doctor didn't seem annoyed, just impatient to get it over with.

"He has a few broken ribs, bruises, a broken arm and just one serious headache," the doctor said. "Other than that and a whole lot of cuts, he is fine. All he has to do is wake up."

I laughed from the inside, but I hadn't forgotten my uncle.

"What about my husband?" Aunty Jean pressed.

"I think it best if you sit down," the doctor said, softly.

I knew from his tone that this wasn't going to be good.

"Just tell me what's wrong with my husband!" Aunty Jean shouted.

Tom, or rather Tom's Yeerk, wrapped an arm around her. Playing the part. It made me sick.

"I'm sorry, but your husband died before we had a chance to arrive," the doctor whispered.

Aunty Jean let out a strangled sob and collapsed on a nearby chair. Tom sat down on a chair next to her and buried his face in his hands. Cassie went over to comfort Aunty Jean. Marco started taking up Jake's role of pacing. I felt numb. I just stood there, feeling as if my world was tearing apart.

"Does Jake know yet?" I choked on my words.

"He is unconscious," the doctor replied. "But we believe he and his father were both conscious at the same time and he witnessed his father's death. But this is just theory."

"Why do you think that happened?" Cassie asked, sounding shaken.

"Because usually when a person experiences injuries as Jake has, they would have waken by now," the doctor explained. "His mind refuses to wake, merely for the fact he doesn't want to confront what he knows awaits him in life."

The doctor looked awkward. "I am truly sorry for this. Jake is lucky to have survived, the flames had started when the truck driver pulled him out. He could have been burned alive."

"And you think this makes up for it?" Aunty Jean shouted. "My husband is dead and my youngest son is in a hospital room."

She started to attract stares, but she didn't seem to care.

"I am sorry," the doctor pleaded. "But we could do nothing for your husband. The police have his body."

Aunty Jean stood up. "You gave my husband's body to the police?"

"I had no choice," the doctor said desperately.

"Which room is my son in?" she shouted, uncontrollably.

"I am sorry but I cannot allow you to see him in such a manner," the doctor said, looking frightened.

"She asked you where my brother's room is," Tom shouted, also standing up.

I stared at him. This was the most convincing role Tom's Yeerk has played yet.

"Room 7B," the doctor said quickly, looking Tom up and down nervously. "Only two people allowed at a time."

Aunty Jean walked towards the lined up rooms. Tom gave us all a deathly look before following her.

((What's going on?)) Tobias' voice asked in my head.


	3. Jake Wakes Up

**Disclaimer: **I think I missed the disclaimer last time so here it is: The Animorphs do not belong to me. But I would like to say the story belongs to me! It's all I have! Sob

**Marco**

The doctor left quickly and I sat down on Tom's abandoned chair. Rachel still stood, completely numb with pain. Cassie was crying silently. We all left Tobias' question hanging like that.

((We're coming in,)) Tobias said, obviously edgy.

I shook my head, viciously.

((No?)) Ax asked. ((Why not?))

I just replied by shaking my head. They didn't say anything after that.

"He was fine," Rachel said, snapping out of revere and speaking miserably. "They both were and then I hear this screeching sound. There were no screams, just silence."

"It's not your fault, Xena," I sighed. "It's not like Jake was driving and you distracted him off the road."

Tom and Jake's mum appeared then, both looking stricken.

"He is still unconscious," Jake's mum said. "But you can go see him."

"There are three of us," Cassie pointed out.

"Stuff the doctors," Jake's mum said viscously. "It's not like they care for the health of their patients."

I don't think I've ever seen anyone with so many cuts and bruises or so many bandages on their body. That was until I saw Jake. He had this enormous cut running across his forehead. It looked like he had been bandaged up, but someone had taken it off and couldn't be stuffed putting on another one. His right arm had a cast on it and he had a number of other bruises and cuts across his face and arms. Jake was in a coma-like state. He didn't do anything, just lay there. He was hooked up on all kinds of machines. Brain wave machines, heart rate monitors, drips, the works. I've never seen Jake looking so bad in my life and I've seen this guy through it all.

"If we talk, do you think he could hear us?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Shout in his ear and find out."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Cassie said, sitting down on a chair next to Jake's bed.

Rachel walked over to the only window and pulled open the blinds. She looked out of it and smiled sadly. She had obviously spotted bird-boy. The next thing I know, a harrier is soaring into a closed window. There was a horrible snapping noise and all I can say is bye-bye birdie. The red tailed hawk was a bit smarter. He perched on the sill and waited for Rachel to open the window. He hopped in and a half dead harrier hopped in after him.

((I believe my wing is broken,)) Ax commented.

"Well don't morph here," I snapped. "There could be controllers anywhere."

Rachel hurried to close the door.

((What's wrong with Jake?)) Tobias asked, flying onto his bedside table.

"Broken arm, broken ribs," I said, ticking them off my fingers. "He's still unconscious."

((I spotted that,)) Tobias drawled.

"Why aren't we the optimist," I snapped, unpleasantly.

"Jake's dad died," Cassie said.

((How dreadful,)) Ax said sadly, perching precariously on the window ledge.

((Does he know?)) Tobias asked.

"They reckon he knows," I said. "But they're not sure. Stupid doctors."

Strangely nobody objected.

"This is so unbelievable!" Rachel shouted, kicking the wall angrily. "How can you just die?"

"He didn't just die," I retorted. "He was in a car accident. It's not like he died in his sleep or of old age. He died in a car accident. He was all bloody and bruised and cut up. He was burned in a car! He didn't just die."

"Marco, shut up," Cassie barked, the first time I'd heard her so fierce.

Rachel looked horrified. Tobias flew to her and perched on her shoulder.

((That wasn't necessary, Marco,)) Ax said sternly.

"Oh my gosh," Rachel whispered. "Who's going to tell my dad? He was really close to Uncle Steve."

"I don't fancy the one that has to tell Jake," Cassie said. "That's if he doesn't already know."

"Well let's not spoil the fun for him yet," I said.

((I am close to my two hour time limit,)) Ax informed us. ((I must demorph.))

Tobias cocked his head in Ax's direction. ((Come on Ax,)) he said. ((I'll help you.))

Ax hopped on the outside of the window ledge and Tobias flew off Rachel's shoulder and joined him. They dropped out of the window.

"Tobias!" Rachel shouted, running to the window.

((It's alright,)) I heard Tobias say. ((There's a ledge underneath. We'll be fine.))

Rachel sighed and closed the window. "Can we get out of here?" she asked. "I feel sick."

"Yeah," Cassie said, looking at Jake sadly. "Come on."

They started to walk towards the door. I turned to follow them and as we reached the door, I heard a low groan come from behind us. I spun around. Jake was waking up.

**Author's Note **I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed. You're all sweethearts!


	4. Jake Realises

**Jake**

Pain. Unbearable pain. My head felt like it was going to explode. My right arm or at least I thought it was my right arm, felt like it would drop off. I groaned. My ears seemed to pound as I heard hurried footsteps approach me. I tried to move my right arm, but something was weighing it down. I lifted my left arm to my head and pressed down on my forehead. My eyelids felt like lead as I pried them open. My sight was fuzzy and unclear at first, but then images came into view. I was in a white room, which was the first thing I saw. Where was I? I lowered my arm and the rest of the picture came into view.

At first I didn't recognise the people that were standing around me, and then their faces all came into better view.

Marco was standing beside my bed, looking down at me happily, but with a kind of sad expression on his face, if that made sense. Cassie was gripping my right hand, which it turned out was in a cast along with my whole arm. Rachel was sitting at the end of my bed, staring intently at me. I tried to sit up, but only my left arm wasn't enough to keep me up.

"Hey Jake," Cassie said softly, as if I was senile. "How do you feel?"

"Where am I," I asked, my throat soar.

"You're in the hospital," Rachel said, hesitantly.

"What…what happened?" I asked, my voice coming out in a hoarse whisper.

"Uh…" Marco looked at Cassie and Rachel uneasily.

"Jake, just rest," Cassie said, touching my cheek. "We'll get your mum."

The tone in her voice shook me. It was so sad that for a moment I wondered why it was so. Then it hit me. The car accident. I was in a car accident, but I wasn't the only one in the car accident.

"Where's dad?" I asked desperately, remembering my dad's last words to me.

Rachel stood up. "I'm going to get your mum," she said, hurrying out.

Marco looked disappointed that she got to the door before he did, but he didn't go anywhere. Cassie just looked disappointed that I had caught on.

"Jake, take it easy," she soothed.

"Tell me!" I demanded, my voice getting stronger.

"Jake, man," Marco said. "Your mum will be here soon."

"I don't give a damn!" I shouted. "Tell me…"

"Oh my god, Jake!"

My mum had appeared in the doorway, followed by a disappointed Tom. Rachel stepped in afterwards, looking awkward. Marco and Cassie moved aside as my mum rushed up to me.

"Jake," she moaned, tears streaming down her face. She sat down on the side of my bed and touched my face gently.

"Mum," I said, my voice weakening again as the pain in my head became insufferable. "Where's dad?"

I knew what happened to dad. I knew it, but I didn't want to believe it. I wanted someone to tell me it wasn't true. My friends silently walked out the door, so it was only me, my mother and Tom.

"Jake, honey," my mum said, trying to look brave, but failing. "You need to know that I love you and everything is going to be alright…"

"Mum!" I said urgently. "He's not…Dad's not…"

"I'm sorry, Jake," she whispered, drawing me close.


	5. Tom's Inner Demons

**Tom**

_Jake, _I moaned. If only I could do something.

_But you can't, _the Yeerk said evilly in my head. _I'm in charge, and if it were up to me that little pest would be long dead with your good for nothing father._

_Shut up, _I said viciously. _My father and brother did nothing to you! Why do you hate us so much? We did nothing to you!_

The Yeerk didn't answer, but continued to watch the scene playing out before our eyes. I was forced to watch, beyond my better judgement.

My mum had embraced my baby brother in a hug, while he just broke down in her arms. I had never really seen Jake cry before, not really. I mean there was that time when he was six and I had punched him on the nose because he stole my action figure doll, but that was it. My brother was tough, he wasn't one to cry. But as I watched my mum trying to calm him down, I knew he was beyond traumatization. If I was me again and not some controlled human being with a slug in his head, I would be there for him. I would hug him and tell him it would be alright. I'd take the role as his father as well as his brother. But I was not me. I was a controller and I couldn't be there for him. All I could do was watch as he suffered from a car accident and learnt of his dad's misfortune.

"It's alright, Jake," my mum sobbed as she squeezed him. "It's alright, honey."

She looked at me angrily. She wanted me to do something. I wish I could. I really wish I could do something for my brother, but the Yeerk was right: he was in charge.

_Please, _I begged with him. _Please at least try and act the part. He's my brother! Please!_

The Yeerk sighed and forced my legs towards my mum and brother.

"Hey midget," the Yeerk said, saying my words. Saying what I would have said to Jake. "Come on, it's alright. Dad wouldn't want you to be sad."

Jake's tear stained face looked up at us. I stood back shocked, or at least the Yeerk stood back shocked. Jake didn't have a relieved face on or a happy face he used to have when he was a kid and saw me coming from a mile away, he had this look of hatred. He looked up at me and he hated me.

_Looks like you're not his favourite person at the moment, _the Yeerk sneered.

_Shut up, _I snarled again. _He hates me because of you. _

_Maybe, _the Yeerk said, happily. _But I'm not the one he will take his anger out on._


	6. Who Gave You That Right?

**Cassie**

We sat in the waiting room for a long time before Tom and Jean reappeared. Both looking disappointed, but for different reasons.

"He's asleep," Jean said her voice croaky. "Where's the doctor?"

"I haven't seen him," Marco said. "How's Jake taking it?"

Jean sighed and combed her hand through her hair. It reminded me of Jake.

"Not so good," she admitted. "I think he already knew, but he wanted someone to confirm it."

I looked down at the floor.

"Hi."

I looked up. Two policemen had arrived, looking solemn.

"Are you Jake's mother?" the first policeman asked Jean. He had a stocky build and was going bald.

"Yes," she said, tentatively.

"I am Senior Constable Ben Lawson and this is Senior Constable Tom Doyle," the first policeman said, pointing to his younger partner. "You are the widow of Steve?"

"Yes," Jean confirmed. "What's going on?"

"We are investigating the cause of the car accident your son and late husband were in," Senior Constable Doyle explained. "We have statements from the truck driver involved and the other witnesses, but we need to know what was happening in the car at the time. We have done an autopsy on your husband…"

"I'm sorry?" Jean asked, clearly outraged. "You did an autopsy on my husband? Without my consent? Who gave you that right?"

"I am sorry, but it had to be done," Lawson said softly. "But it has allowed us to clear up a few things. We know that your husband was not under the influence…"

"It takes an autopsy to figure that out?" Jean demanded.

"We also confirmed that he was completely healthy at the time of the accident," Lawson continued as though Jean hadn't spoken. "So, can you tell us why your husband drove on the wrong side of the road, causing an accident that resulted in his death and several injuries to your son?"

"No, I can't," Jean snapped. "I wasn't in the car with them at the time."

"Precisely," Doyle said. "Which is why we would like to speak with your son."

"No," Jean snapped. "My son has just woken up and has just learnt of his father's fate. He doesn't need to be interrogated at the moment."

"I am sorry, Jean is it?" Doyle said gruffly, rubbing his stubble uncomfortably. "But we need to know what was happening just before the accident. Or do any of you have any information for us?"

He looked at each of us sternly. I glanced at Rachel. She had been on the phone with Jake at the time of the accident. She hadn't told us anything about what was happening, except the sounds of the car accident.

"Then I must speak with Jake," Doyle said defiantly. "Which room is he in?"

"He is asleep," Jean protested. "He is injured and he is very upset over this whole thing. I don't want you anywhere near my son."

"We need to know what happened," Lawson repeated, clearly impatient. "The room number please."

"The hell with you," Jean shouted, again attracting attention. "You're not getting anywhere near my son. You cut open my husband's body without my knowledge and now you want to go near my son? Who's to say you're not going to cut him up too?"

Doyle whispered something in Lawson's ear and Lawson nodded gravely.

"You are obviously very upset about this whole ordeal," Lawson said quietly to Jean. "We will interview your son when you and he are ready."

"Go away," Jean snapped. "Leave me in peace."

The two officers walked slowly away, gaining furious glares from nearby onlookers. Jean sat down on a nearby chair heavily.

"Rachel is your mum at work?" she asked Rachel kindly.

Rachel shook her head. "She has a day off today," she said, sitting down next to Marco.

Tom walked off in the direction of the snack bar and I sat down next to Jean while she dialled Rachel's home number. She waited a while before someone picked up the phone.

"Hello, Sara, dear is your mum home," she said, and listened. "Thankyou, sweetheart."

I marvelled at Jean. She was a strong woman. She was strong, both for her wellbeing and for Jake's. She was fierce with the police, but that didn't mean she was a bad person. She was kind, but not patronizing.

"Hi, Naomi," she said. "How are you?"

She listened to Rachel's mum on the other line.

"I'm not doing so well," she said, tears welling in her eyes again. I put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

I could hear Naomi on the line faintly.

"What's wrong Jean?" she asked, softly or maybe that's how I heard it.

Jean started to cry silently. "He's dead, Naomi," she sobbed.

I saw Marco get up and walk quietly in the direction of Jake's hospital room. Rachel followed him. I stayed behind, trying to comfort Jean.

"He's dead," she cried, not so silently anymore.

"Who's dead?" Naomi asked horrified.

"Steve," Jean broke down. "He's…he's dead…"

"Are you at the hospital?" Naomi said quickly, urgently. "I'm coming over there. Don't go anywhere."

"He's dead, Naomi," Jean cried, desperately.

"Okay, Jean, it's alright," Naomi said. I could hear Sara in the background asking what's going on. "I'll be there soon. Hang on, Jean."

Jean hung up and I was left there trying to comfort her.


	7. Marco Informs Dad

**Marco**

I was gaining closer to Jake's bedroom, Rachel followed me tentatively. We were both scared of what would happen if Jake was awake. We knew he wasn't going to attack us or anything like that, but he would be pretty upset. I know I was pretty upset when my mum 'supposedly' died. I didn't hang around long enough to see how Jake had handled the news and I'm glad I wasn't. From the sounds of it, he had taken it really badly.

We reached Jake's hospital room and walked in. Jake was asleep again, the cut on his head looking nasty.

"Tobias?" Rachel said, stalking over to the window ledge where a red tailed hawk was. "What are you doing here? Where's Ax?"

((Ax went back to his scoop,)) Tobias said, looking at Jake. ((I came back here. Tom opened the window after Jake went back to sleep. I thought I'd come in and make sure nothing happens to him.))

Rachel smiled. "That's sweet," she said smoothing Tobias ruffled feathers.

"Do you guys mind?" I said, feeling slightly nauseous. "I think I might be sick."

"If you don't like it go away," Rachel snapped.

"I'm not the only one who's queasy over your little love fest," I said. "Jake doesn't look too good."

"Jake's asleep," Rachel snapped. "And that's an evil thing to say."

"Oh, so now I'm evil?" I said, yawning. "Great insults, Mighty Xena."

((Guys,)) Tobias said. ((Pipe down. You're going to wake Jake up.))

"You know they did an autopsy on Uncle Steve without Aunty Jean knowing," Rachel informed Tobias.

((Are they allowed to do that?)) Tobias asked, astounded.

"I don't think so," Rachel said. "What idiots."

Again nobody disagreed.

"Anything interesting happen with you today, bird-boy?" I asked Tobias. "Besides the whole car accident thing?"

((What's there to happen?)) Tobias asked, dryly. ((I don't know how I'm going to find my way back to my meadow. It's so dark.))

I looked out the window and realised that he was right. It was dark. I looked at the clock on the wall.

"Crap," I cursed. "It's eight. I've got to ring my dad before he files a missing person's report."

I flipped out my mobile phone and dialled my home number.

"My mum's coming over, so we'll probably be able to take Cassie home," Rachel said as I waited for my dad to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" my dad said as he answered the phone.

"Hey dad," I said.

"Marco, where have you been?" he demanded. "I thought this was the police calling to tell me they've found your body."

I didn't laugh. That was more of Jake's story.

"I'm at the hospital," I said. "There's been an accident."

"Oh my god," he said, sounding scared. "Are you alright, Marco? Please tell me you're alright."

"I'm fine," I said. "It wasn't me. Jake and his dad crashed into a truck, I think it was."

"Are they alright?" my dad said, less scared but still sounding worried. Jake was like a more distant son to him.

"Jake's got a few broken bones," I informed him. "But his dad's…Dad, Steve is dead."

I heard my dad gasp. "I'm coming over," he said quickly. "I'll be there soon."

"Alright, bye," I said.

I hung up and turned back to Rachel and Tobias. Rachel was sitting on the end of Jake's bed, looking grave. A tear trickled down her face. I was stunned. Rachel never cried. Never.

Tobias was perched on her shoulder, also staring at Jake.

"People die all the time," Rachel whispered. "You just never realise that it might happen to someone you love."

"Yeah," I said. "I learnt that the hard way."

"But your mum didn't really die," Rachel said, turning to look at me angrily as though this was my entire fault.

"No," I agreed. "But I know how it feels."

We all fell silent for a while. The only noises made were nurses walking up and down the hallway hurriedly.

"Press charges," a loud voice said at the door.

I turned around and found myself looking at Jean, Naomi and Cassie.

"Press charges against the police?" Jean laughed.

"I'll be your personal lawyer," Naomi offered.

"It's alright, Naomi," Jean said softly as she came closer to Jake's bed.

I jumped out of the way and Tobias fluttered quickly to the window.

"What is a bird doing in here?" Naomi demanded. "Rachel, did you let that bird in here?"

"No, mum," Rachel lied. "Maybe the nurses…"

"Yes," Naomi muttered. "These people have no sense of hygiene." She stalked towards Tobias and shooed him out the window.

I rolled my eyes.

"Should I wake him?" Jean asked Naomi, smoothing Jake's hair out.

"Leave him to sleep," Naomi said, looking down at Jake pityingly. "God knows when he's going to get that opportunity."

"Have you given Dan a ring?" Jean asked.

"I'm trying to put it off," Naomi answered. "I don't want to tell him that his brother died over the phone."

I walked over to Cassie, not wanting to eavesdrop further on the girl talk.

"What happened to Tom?" I asked.

"He called his friends and they came to pick him up," Cassie informed me. "They weren't too pleased that he didn't turn up for the meeting."

I shrugged. "Life sucks, what can you do?"

"I wouldn't say that too loudly if I were you," Rachel said joining us.

"Hey Marco," someone said behind me.

I spun around. My dad was standing there, looking pitiful as he stared at Jake and Jean.

"Hey dad," I said. "You got here fast. What'd you ride, the bat-mobile?" He glared sternly at me and I automatically felt guilty. "You going to speak to them?" I said, covering myself up.

"I'll be a minute," he said and walked over to Jean and Naomi.

"I can't wait to get out of here," I said, turning back to Rachel and Cassie.

"We should call a meeting," Cassie said quietly.

"Yeah," Rachel said. "Cassie? Your barn around twelve?"

"Alright, my parents will be out around then anyway," she said. "Maybe we could visit Jake together."

"Come on Marco," my dad had come back after speaking with Jean and Naomi.

"Alright," I said to them. "See you tomorrow, then."

_**Author's note **I swear you reviewers are so nice! Nobody has ever been so nice about any of my stories! Thankyou! And I promise I will get around to reading and reviewing your stories! I've already read the stories of the authors who have requested it and they are BRILLIANT! Oh, and I'm sorry if I use or will use Australian words! I think I used 'what a beauty' in the story! I only just found out that was an Australian term. Sorry! _


	8. Someone's Watching

**Jake**

_I'm so proud of you…You and Tom have both made my life…Tell your mum I love her…_

_Dad, wake up! Please don't go!_

_Dad, WATCH OUT!_

My eyes snapped open. I was shivering, uncontrollably. It was dark and I couldn't see anyone around. I was alone.

Pain shot through my head, my arm and my side. I lifted my left hand to my head and felt along my forehead. I felt a large cut from side to side. I shivered.

"I should have gone," I whispered to myself. "It should have been me that had died."

I tried to sit up, but my arm wouldn't support me. I lay back down again, trying to forget the pain, trying to feel numb. I hated pain. I loathed it because in my dad's final moments he had felt pain. I was there with him. I should have stopped his pain. I should have saved him. Why have powers when I won't use them for the good? Why hadn't I thought of using my powers?

My cast felt heavy and itchy. I longed to scratch my arm, but the cast was there. There was only one solution. I had to morph. I closed my eyes and focused on my tiger morph. I willed the tiger to be me. The first changes were my legs. They changed shape almost immediately. I loved the change; I wanted to be this tiger. But then a protesting voice filled my head.

((No, Jake,)) the voice commanded. ((Don't morph. Demorph! Demorph now!))

I stopped mid-morph and spun my head this way and that, looking for the source of the voice.

((That's it,)) the voice said softly. ((Now demorph.))

I don't know what made me do it, but I started to demorph. Maybe it was the urgency in the voice of the beholder, but I demorphed, no changes done to my physical human shape that could be seen.

I started to get up, but it was no use. Who was in the room with me? I willed the person to speak again. I needed to recognise the voice. It was familiar, but I had such a headache that I couldn't concentrate.

Suddenly a red tailed hawk hopped out of the shadows. I stared at him.

"Tobias?" I said, hesitantly.

((Hey Jake,)) he said. ((You gave us all a scare before.))

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

((There was a spare room next door, so your mum is spending the night,)) he said, ignoring my question.

"What are you doing here, Tobias?" I demanded again.

((Just keeping an eye on you,)) he said. ((Can't be too careful.))

"Go away," I snapped. "Get out."

((Jake, I'm sorry if I freaked you out or anything…))

"Get out!" I said, raising my voice. "Just go!"

((Jake, look, I only told you not to demorph because it could expose you,)) Tobias said quickly.

"Tobias, get out," I whispered in a deadly sort of way.

((I can't do that Jake,)) Tobias said softly.

"Just get out, please," I said, furious. "I don't want anyone checking on me."

"Jake?"

I looked in the direction of the new voice. My mum was standing at the door, looking tired. I looked back at Tobias, but I couldn't see him.

"Jake, are you alright?" my mum asked, worriedly. "I thought I heard you screaming."

I shot a furious glance into the shadows, but turned to my mum.

"Just a nightmare," I muttered.

She sat down on my bed and put her hand to my face.

"You're taking this well, Jake," she said to me. "I'm so proud of you."

I felt increasingly uncomfortable with the fact that Tobias could be listening to this. I shot another glare into the dark.

"Jake, I need you to be truthful with me now," she said. I looked at her and she had a very serious look on. "The police are going to want to question you on the accident and before they do I want to know what happened first."

I swallowed, but didn't say anything.

"Jake, honey, you need to tell me," she said, softly. "I know this is hard for you, but it's going to be a lot harder with the police."

My throat felt husky, but I opened my mouth and lied. "I don't remember what happened, mum."

My mum looked doubtful. "Alright, honey," she said. "If you remember anything, please tell me."

I nodded, but didn't say anything.

She leant over and gave me a kiss on my forehead. "You know you're so brave," she said. "I don't know if I could deal with this if I were you."

She stayed with me for the rest of the night and I had no option but to let Tobias stay as well.


	9. Naughty Tobias

_**Author's Note **In the last couple of chapters I missed out on one piece of info: Tobias' red-tailed hawk form is familiar to the Yeerks. Thanks to **Soul Raider 116** for pointing this out to me. Because I missed out on this piece of information, I went on to say Tobias recklessly spied on Jake. In this chapter Cassie tells him off for it! So thankyou to **Soul Raider 116 **for pointing this out to me! THANKYOU! _

**Tobias**

((Am I late?)) I asked as I flew into the rafters of Cassie's barn.

"Oh, only about half an hour," Marco said snidely. "But don't worry, you're worth it."

((So, what's this meeting about?)) I asked.

Everyone was there, with the exception of Jake. Marco was lounging on a bale of hay. Rachel was on a separate bale of hay, examining her nails. Cassie was attending to a sick horse and Ax, who was in human morph, was standing in a corner.

"I thought it would be a good chance to let everything out," Cassie said.

Marco stared at her. "You called this meeting so we could let everything out?" he asked mockingly. "I thought this meeting was to decide if Rachel was going to the school prom with Greg or Anthony."

"Shut up," Rachel snapped. "I've already decided who I'm going with, anyway."

She gave me a smile and if I were human I'd have given her one back.

Marco shuddered. "That's a horrible image," he said. "Have you thought about the kids?"

"I'm serious guys," Cassie said. "This is big. Jake's going to need our support and we need to get everything out of the way if we want to do that."

((Guys, I don't think Jake would appreciate our help,)) I said, uncomfortably.

"Why not, Tobias?" Ax asked. "Ob-ias. Tob. Bias."

((Because, I went to check on him last night…))

"You went to check on him again?" Marco demanded. "Who gave you that right?"

((Has it occurred to you that Jake's brother is a controller and this is a perfect opportunity to infest him?)) I snapped.

"Yeah, we should have thought about that," Cassie agreed. "But you still shouldn't have done that Tobias. What if Tom saw you? You are known among the Yeerks. They'll put two and two together."

I hadn't thought about that, but now that I contemplated it, I realised I had put everyone at risk. Instead of doing something I thought was right, I might have sentenced my friends to infestation or death.

"You were saying?" Rachel asked me, smiling at me comfortingly.

((He woke up in the middle of the night and tried to morph,)) I continued, feeling awkward. ((I ordered him to demorph. Luckily he hadn't morphed anywhere where the injuries are noticeable.))

"He tried to morph?" Cassie said. "But that would mean he'd be uninjured. That would expose him and us."

((I stopped him just in time,)) I reassured her. ((But he bit my head off. I explained that I was trying to look out for him and he told me to get out.))

"I would too," Marco said. "It kind of looks like you're a stalker."

((Thanks for that Marco,)) I said dryly.

"Maybe he was just upset that you were trying to protect him," Rachel suggested. "You know that whole male pride thing you guys have going on? And Jake hates to be protected."

"You mean you're a man?" Marco teased.

Rachel gave him a glare and threw a rock at him. It rebounded off his head and landed on the floor.

((I don't think so,)) I said, as Marco rubbed his head. ((But there's another thing…))

"What?" Cassie asked.

((Well, before he could morph tiger and maul me, his mum interrupted. She asked him about the accident…)) I paused. What I was going to say would make Jake sound sneaky and deceiving, but I couldn't keep my friends in the dark. ((He said he couldn't remember what happened.))

"So?" Marco said. "He's got a bit of amnesia. Doesn't matter as long as he can remember the basics."

"You think he was lying," Cassie said softly.

((Yeah, I do,)) I said.

"This is Jake we're talking about," Rachel objected a little uncomfortably I noticed. "He wouldn't lie about something like this."

"Maybe he is protecting his father's reputation," Ax suggested wisely, and then he ruined it. "A-tion. Ta-tion. What a funny word. I know I have done a similar act in the past."

Everyone thought about that.

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that he's still Jake," Rachel protested still looking hesitant.

((What would you do?)) I asked. ((This could turn bad for his dad. Think about it. Steve is a respected doctor, a great man in the eyes of the community. Then the media gets a hold of the story. How this brilliant man drove on the wrong side of the road. How he was reckless.))

"Bird-boy here has a point," Marco said, thinking carefully. "I mean it's no secret Jake would do anything for his family. I mean look at Tom. And what if Jake's hiding the reason why they crashed. What if Steve did it on purpose?"

"Hold it, wolverine," Rachel interrupted. "My uncle is not suicidal, no matter what anyone says."

"You might know that," Marco said. "But the media doesn't know that."

That stopped everyone.

"So we have to get Jake to speak," Rachel said, a little too desperately.

((You know maybe I'm making a big deal out of it,)) I said. ((I could have made it into something it wasn't.))

"Yeah," Marco agreed. "It has to be nothing."

We all paused.

"So, anyone want to say anything?" Cassie asked finally.

We all stared at her. She sighed.

"How are we supposed to be strong for Jake if we don't talk about it?" she asked, exasperated.

"I really don't think Jake is going to be breaking down in tears," Rachel said. "I don't think we need to be strong for him. He's pretty strong. He can handle it."

"Yeah, I agree with Rachel," Marco said. "Being strong for someone is more a girl thing. So I guess you've volunteered Cassie."

Cassie growled. "Fine, I'll go to the hospital then."

"I'll come with you," Marco said, standing up. "But I'm not comforting him."

Rachel stood up. "You coming Tobias? Ax?"

"I will visit Prince Jake later," Ax said, walking out of the barn

((I'm not coming,)) I said. ((He'd probably be still upset with me.))

"Alright," Rachel said, following Cassie and Marco out. "Bye."

((Bye.))


	10. Jake's Crabby Behaviour

**Rachel**

"He hasn't been talking much," Aunty Jean explained to us as we met her in the hospital waiting room. "He answers to me but doesn't say much. He was always a quiet boy, but he's just gotten a bit more quieter."

"I can fix that," Marco said, smiling. He turned around and walked in the direction of Jake's room. I followed, Cassie trailed after us.

"Hey," I said, stopping Marco and Cassie just as we reached Jake's door. "What should we say to him?"

Marco shrugged. Cassie looked puzzled.

"Well, what did Jake do when your mum died, Marco?" I asked.

Marco shrugged again. "I really can't remember," he admitted. "It was a long time ago and I've blocked it all out."

"I suppose we just let him know we're there for him," Cassie suggested. "But not in a patronising way."

"Yeah, that'd be easy, since its Jake," I said, walking through the door first.

Jake was propped up in bed watching the few channels the hospital television offered. His arm, which was still in its cast, was lying motionless next to him. His cuts on his face made him look hard and war torn. He glanced at us when we entered, then looked back at the TV without saying a word.

"Hey, cousin," I said, sitting down on the end of his bed. "What's up?"

He looked at me and I saw a million emotions cross his eyes. Anger, hurt, sadness, despair, hate.

"Hey," he said, wiping all the expressions off his face. "Come to check on me too?"

"Tobias was only looking out for you," Cassie said, standing next to his bed. "This is a good opportunity for Tom to infest you."

"Yeah, well stuff Tom," Jake snapped, turning back to the TV.

Startled, I looked at the others. They looked as shocked as I felt. Jake was never rude and definitely would never say anything remotely rude about his family. Yeerk or no Yeerk.

"So, what are you watching?" Marco asked, looking up at the TV and breaking the awkward silence.

Jake shrugged and continued watching whatever was on.

Cassie put a hand on his shoulder. "You know, Jake, we're all here for you."

He looked up at her and all those emotions came rushing back into his eyes. "You don't have to be here."

Cassie seemed stumped by this statement. I looked at Marco hurriedly. If anyone could lighten Jake's mood it was Marco.

"Hey, man, wanted to see how our Fearless Leader's going," he said, putting on one of his loopy grins.

"Whatever," Jake mumbled, turning back to the TV again.

Cassie stared at me desperately. I stared at Marco desperately. Marco just stared.

"When do you think you'll be getting out of here?" I asked, trying to get something out of him.

He just shrugged.

"Can you talk?" I asked more rudely than I meant it to be.

He looked at me. "Only to people who I think are worthy of it."

"So we're not worth it?" I spat at him.

"Rachel, calm down," Cassie hissed at me, to Jake she said, "I know you're having a hard time at the moment, Jake, but…"

"Just get out," Jake snapped. "I've had people come in and out of here all day and the one time I think I'm actually going to be alone for a minute, you people come charging in."

"We came in here because we were worried about you," I snapped back.

"Well you shouldn't be," Jake retorted. "If Tobias hadn't been sneaking in here last night, I would have had a working arm by now. Instead I'm stuck in here."

"Hey, if you had morphed how would you have explained that to your mum? To Tom?" Marco barked. "You would have exposed us. And that's not going to happen. So if that means we have to watch you twenty-four seven, we'll do that."

Jake looked about ready to snap. "That's called invasion of privacy," he said. "When have I ever done that to you?"

"We've never given you reason to do that to us," I said, smugly.

"No?" Jake said. "How about that time you were split in half? Or that time you had to barf up a crocodile?"

"This conversation is going nowhere," Cassie interrupted.

"Is there any need to stay?" Jake said, turning back to the TV.

"Before we go, I need to ask you a serious question, Jake," Cassie said, studying him carefully, but he refused to look at her. "How did the car crash?"

There are those awkward silences when someone has said something that's not meant to be said and there are nervous silences. There are silences when there's just nothing to say to each other and there are silences, just like this one, where someone is on the verge of saying something important.

Jake didn't answer, staring at the television with incredible concentration.

"Jake?" Cassie persisted.

"I don't know," he said, not looking away from the TV.

"Alright Jake," Cassie sighed and turned and walked out of the door. Marco followed her without a goodbye and finally with a last look at Jake, I hurried after them.

_**Author's Note **I would like to thank all my reviewers again! I know you're thinking "she's such a RETARD!" but I wouldn't be going on with my story if it weren't for you guys! So thankyou! Oh and **Myitt **I really don't mind at all! It was constructive criticism and I absolutely agree with you! I'm too Australian and I'll try and use cell phone and all the other American terms! Like I said before, sometimes I don't even know only Australians use these specific terms! (What a beauty? Kill me now!) But **THANKYOU!** _


	11. Guess Who's Depressed

**Tom**

"Depressed?" my mum asked, stroking Jake's hair as he slept. "What do you mean?"

"Jake has a case of adolescent depression," the doctor explained to us, my mum and me.

The Yeerk put a face on to make me look all concerned, which I was, but this was a Yeerk I'm talking about.

"He'll be alright, though?" my mum asked, starting to shake.

"It is not rare for someone who has experienced the kind of trauma Jake has to set into a series of depressed or oppressed feelings," the doctor explained. "He is still young and it is likely that he will eventually grow out of his feelings."

"Are these tests accurate?" my mum asked.

"Only the best psychiatrists have examined Jake," the doctor said proudly. "These tests are indeed accurate."

"Does he need medication?" the Yeerk used my mouth to speak, my voice full of concern.

"If required," the doctor said. "The alternative of course would be counselling."

"I don't want my son subjected to medications," my mum said clearly, but softly so as not to wake Jake.

"Then it's counselling," the doctor said with finality. "Jake is your son, I understand your concern for his wellbeing, but I must warn you, that counselling hasn't produced the best results in Jake's case."

"Well what are the side effects of this medication?" my mum asked, looking down at Jake with tears forming in her eyes.

"Anti-depressants can cause a number of side effects ranging from headaches to diarrhoea," the doctor said, sounding like he'd swallowed the textbook. "I have a pamphlet for more information."

_Depression? _The Yeerk laughed in my head. _The twit has depression? This is too good._

_Shut up, _I growled. _He's just a kid._

"A positive about counselling, however, is that he can get anything off his chest and it is absolutely confidential," the doctor said. "Something the psychiatrists mentioned was how this depression was coming for a long time. The car accident and his father's death just topped it off. Is Jake having any problems at school or with his friends?"

"Not that I know of," my mum said. "Tom? Have you noticed anything?" she asked me.

The Yeerk shook my head. "If he's upset about anything he's doing a good job of covering it up."

"Which do you prefer," the doctor asked, turning to my mum. "Counselling or medication?"

"I'd prefer counselling first," my mum said. "But if he's not improving, I suppose I have no other choice."

"Very well," the doctor said. "I'll check who's available."

He stalked out of the room. My mum collapsed on a chair next to the bed.

"Why us?" she whispered.

The Yeerk moved my legs towards her and wrapped my arm around her. He comforted her in the same way I would have.


	12. Unresolved Issues

**Marco**

((Houston, we have a problem,)) I said.

((What an understatement,)) Rachel replied, looking into the hospital window with her sharp owl eyes.

((Who's going to tell the others?)) I asked. ((You or me?))

((I'll give you that privilege,)) Rachel said, snidely. ((It was your idea and I like my friendship with Cassie.))

((Gee, thanks,)) I said dryly. ((Well, it's late now. I don't think he's going to try anything so do you want to head back?))

((Yeah,)) she yawned and we took off into the night. ((It makes you think doesn't it?)) she said at last.

((What?)) I asked.

((That he's not invincible,)) she said. ((I mean I've always had this image of Jake being this tough, indestructible guy, mentally and physically. Guess I was wrong.))

((No,)) I said, thinking about it. ((It's just that he's been under a lot of stress and we don't make it better when we push it onto him.))

((True.))

((Depression?)) Tobias asked, in the rafters at Cassie's barn. ((As in 'I'm never going to be happy again in my life' depression?))

"No," I said sarcastically. "As in 'The food in this hospital is starting to make me throw up' depression."

"Lovely," Rachel said, giving me a look which would have only looked like a compliment in an episode of 'The Simpson's.'

"How do they know so soon?" Cassie asked, obviously worried out of her mind.

"Beats me," I said.

"This is obviously a disaster," Ax observed.

"Oh, no," I said, continuing my sarcasm streak. "This is perfect. Absolutely perfect. You see Ax, depression leads to suicide and we all know what suicide is. We're going to be so happy when Jake snuffs it."

"He's not going to kill himself," Cassie said. "It's just because of his dad."

"Actually, the doctor reckons it's been leading up to this moment," Rachel said. "Like he's been keeping it all inside and his dad dying was like the icing on the cake."

"Nicely said," I applauded.

"What is it today?" Rachel snapped. "Jerk day?"

"It's better than cow day," I snapped back.

"Alright, enough!" Cassie shouted, jumping from her hay bale. "Okay, obviously some of us still have issues over this," she glared at me and Rachel. "Let's just settle this now, before it gets out of hand."

"I have no issues," Rachel growled. "He's the one with the issues," she pointed at me.

"I have nothing to say," I said, lazing on my bale of hay.

((Well, if Jake has depression, I don't think we can do much about it,)) Tobias said. ((This is a mental thing, not a physical thing. He can't morph out of it.))

"We can go on more missions," Rachel suggested. "Make him feel alive."

"Except you said that he's been building this up," Cassie pointed out. "The war has got to be a part of this. It will only make him more depressed."

**_Author's Note_** _Alright, the last couple of chapters, lets just say I don't know what I've been thinking and **Soul Raider 116** I'm going to take up your offer and any time you think I should Americanise my writing please tell me! I'll try and improve my writing, I've been kind of sloppy the past couple of days! SORRY! _


	13. Good Jake or Bad Jake?

**Jake**

"Counselling?" I echoed. "You want me to go counselling?"

My mum looked me up and down, which was hard since I was sitting on the couch. It was my first week back home and my mum just informed me that I have a case of adolescent depression and that my only option was to go to counselling.

"Maybe it's not such a bad idea, Jake," my mum said softly. "It will help you talk things through."

"Why aren't you making Tom go counselling?" I asked, glaring at the back of Tom's head as he ate dinner. He was pretending not to listen, but I knew he was.

"You know what the doctor said, honey."

"I'm not going counselling," I said defiantly. "I am not depressed."

My mum sat down on the couch with me.

"Your father would want you to go to counselling," she said.

"How do you know that?" I snapped. "Did he tell you that?"

My mum looked hurt, but I didn't care.

"How about we give you a couple of weeks to settle in back home?" she said, trying to reason with me. "If I see that you've improved, then you don't have to see a counsellor. But if you don't improve…"

"I'm not going to any counsellor," I said, stubbornly.

"Come on, Jake," my mum pleaded. "You're better than this."

"What do you know?" I shouted, standing up, aware that Tom was no longer trying to pretend to listen.

"Jake, your father…"

"What would you know about dad?" I continued to shout. "You know nothing. You don't know what happened. Stop trying to care."

"Yo, Jake, man, calm down," Tom said, looking a bit freaked out.

"Like you care," I said, turning towards him. "It's not like you care at all. You don't even mind that dad's dead. All you worry about is if you're going to miss another meeting of the Sharing."

"Jake, sit down," mum snapped, standing up. "You're going counselling. No trials, no nothing. That's the end of it."

"What will counselling prove? That I'm nuts?" My mum stared at me. "I'm not depressed, I'm not nuts and I don't need counselling," I snapped. I turned around and before another word was said, I walked out of the house.

They didn't come after me. I didn't expect them to come after me. I don't usually act like a selfish, arrogant, spoilt kid as I seemed to be with my mum, but I couldn't handle it anymore. I mean everyone is trying to help me when I don't want help. Was I depressed? I don't know. I wasn't exactly jumping for joy, but who could blame me? Did that make me depressed? How could anyone tell? All I could tell was that I constantly felt like I was being ripped apart. Like there was this never ending pain and it was unbearable.

According to the doctors, my arm was healing abnormally fast. I wondered if this was because of my morphing ability, but when I thought about it more, I realised I really didn't give a damn. My ribs had healed already and the many cuts were fading faster than normal.

I was walking down a street three blocks away from my house, people were looking at me funny, maybe because my arm was in a sling or maybe because my picture was in the paper along with an article on the accident.

"Hey, Jake, come over here."

I turned around. Three guys from my school were standing outside a 7-11 shop. I walked over to them. They were in a few classes of mine. They were the kind of guys that were harmless but wouldn't be afraid to hurt you if necessary. Maybe that was the impression I got from them, but maybe other people saw him differently.

"We saw you in the paper," the biggest one, Nathan, said. He had a large nose to match his large figure. He was large as in tall large. He was about a centimetre shorter than me, but he wasn't built like a football player like some people have commented about me.

"Who hasn't?" I mumbled.

"You pressin' charges?" Mark said. He was small and had spiked dyed black hair. He wore a lanky grin and I knew he was a Goth. It was hard not to know with all the heavy black make-up he's got going on.

"About what?" I asked.

"You know," Ed said, the last member of the group. "About the autopsy thing." Ed was about Marco's height, but this guy was tough.

I stirred uncomfortably. I wasn't happy at all about what the police had done to my dad's body without my mum's permission, but we weren't pressing charges.

"No," I said. "My mum's not too comfortable with that."

"Too bad," Ed whistled. "You look beat," he reached into his pocket. "Have a smoke."

He held out a cigarette for me. I don't know why I did it, but I did. I took it out of his hand and put it in my mouth.

"You have a lighter?" I asked.

They smiled.

The next couple of weeks I didn't go to school and if I was forced to I think I would have wagged anyway. I hadn't morphed or talked to any of the other Animorphs for a long time, they probably thought I needed space. I spent most of my time out of the house, spending it with Mark, Nathan and Ed. My mum tried to get me into counselling, but every time she mentioned it I walked out on her. Sometimes I'd hear her cry at night, but I'd block it all out.

I'd picked up the art of smoking and had actually gotten used to it. My mum and Tom didn't know about my new found habit. I covered it up with deodorant and hid my cigarettes in all different parts of my room, mostly in dresser drawers. So far smoking is as far as I had gone. Ed had offered me alcohol, but I declined. Smoking didn't take away that ripping feeling I always felt, but I pretended it did. It was the reason after all I had started smoking. I don't like smoking, it's not who I am, but I just felt like I had no control over my life at the moment. Smoking seemed like this was _my _decision. I hadn't decided for the car to crash, I hadn't decided for my dad to die. I didn't decide for my mum seriously considering me going to counselling. All of that, it wasn't my choice. Smoking was and as funny as it sounded, I enjoyed knowing it. I enjoyed knowing that I was smoking because I had made a choice. I had made a difference in my life. Nobody else.

Mark introduced me to Marilyn Manson's music and I found I liked it. I bought his album and played it whenever I was in my room. The whole anger thing really got me going.

My cast had been taken away to leave a very frail arm. The doctors said I'd be weak for a while. I didn't care what they thought. The cut on my forehead had completely healed, with the puzzlement of the doctors. They were convinced that there would be a scar. Shows how much they know.

"Damn it!" I yelled, but nobody could hear me. Marilyn Manson's song was playing full on in my room as I searched for my lost mobile. "Where the hell are you?"

I was in serious need for a smoke when someone knocked on my door. I didn't answer; I never answered the door anymore. But they walked in anyway.

Marco, Cassie, Rachel and Tobias in human morph walked in. Tobias blocked his ears when he walked in and Cassie put on a disgusted face.

I smiled to myself and went back to looking for my mobile. The cigarettes would have to wait.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Marco shouted over the music.

I ignored him and tipped over my bed mattress.

"I SAID WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Marco shouted again.

Still, I ignored him. Having enough, he walked over to my CD player and pressed the stop button. The music stopped.

"Hey," he said angrily. "I asked what you're doing."

I walked over to him and pushed him out of the way.

"I heard you," I snapped, pushing the play button on the CD player.

The music started playing again and I continued my search for my mobile.

Rachel walked up to the CD player pressed eject and took out the CD.

I glared at her. "What's your problem?"

"I hate Marilyn Manson," she smiled. "And since when did you become a fan?"

I turned to my drawers and started tossing clothes out on the floor, ignoring her.

"We came to see if you're alright, Jake," Cassie said.

I continued throwing clothes on the floor. "I'm fine, and I'd be a lot better if you were gone."

Marco was looking down at the floor where my clothes lay. I looked down at what he was staring at. In the mixture of my clothes was my hidden cigarette packet. I quickly made a grab for it, but Marco was faster. He looked at the cigarette packet in disgust.

"You smoke now, Jake?" he asked.

I snatched the packet out of his hands. I was aware that my friends were looking at me with something between surprise and pity. I ignored their glares and pocketed the packet. But I missed the look in Rachel's eyes which told me she had stopped pitying me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she shrieked. "Since when has smoking been your thing?"

"Keep it down," I snapped. "I'm not getting caught because you can't deal with it."

Cassie walked to the door and closed it.

"You're smarter than this, Jake," Cassie said.

I was so sick of people telling me that I was smarter or better than something, I almost exploded, but I kept it in.

"Obviously he's not," Marco spat at me. "How'd you get it? Fake ID? Do you do drugs now too?"

That wasn't fair. He stared at me like I was dirt on the bottom of his shoes. He sent me a look the equivalent of flying daggers.

"Get stuffed," I said, turning back to my search.

"Answer him, Jake," Cassie said firmly. "How'd you get it?"

I turned to face them. "This is not a big deal. It's not drugs or alcohol. It's not like I'm stoned."  
"Yeah, maybe not," Tobias agreed. "But this is you we're talking about."

"So?" I said.

"The Jake I know wouldn't do this," Cassie said softly. "The Jake I know hates smoking."

I gave her a dirty look. "The Jake you know is dead."

"What, so you're just going to smoke?" Rachel demanded angrily. "What about the Animorphs? You can't just be our leader like this."

"Who says I'm your leader?" I challenged. "I never wanted to be your damn leader."

"We can't do this without you," Tobias said softly. "We know this war has been leading to your depression…" He stopped suddenly, looking shocked.

I felt my face go red with anger.

"You still spy on me?" I said angrily at him. "Who told you could do that?"

"He didn't spy on you," Marco interrupted. "Rachel and I did."

I turned to him and Rachel angrily. "_You _spied on me?"

"Yeah," Rachel said, staring me in the eye. "Is that alright with you?"

"Oh, yeah," I said sarcastically. "I love how my life has no privacy. Everyone is always in my face. Why don't you people just spread the word: Leave me alone."

"Nobody's against you," Cassie said. "We're trying to help you."

I laughed. "What am I to you people?" I asked. "A mental case?"

"How about we come back when you start acting normal?" Marco said. "I liked you better when you weren't such a jerk."

"Well I'm sorry if I'm not exactly saint material," I shot back.

A ringing sound filled the room. It came in the direction of my desk. I walked over and pulled open a drawer. There, sitting in between two of my school books, was my mobile. I picked it up and answered it.

"Hey, Jake, man," Mark's voice filled my hearing. "How's it hanging?"

Usually I would have criticized anyone who said that, but now I couldn't really care.

"Hey," I said. "What's up?"

"Me and Ed are gonna meet up with Nathan in half an hour," he said. "Wanna come?"

"Sure," I said, and then I glanced at the others. "Got nothing better to do."

"Great," he said. "We're meeting at that alley behind that comic book shop. Seeya."

"Bye," I hung up and turned towards the others. "Alright, I'm going out, so you need to go right now."

"Where are you going?" Marco demanded.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm meeting a couple of friends," I informed him.

"Who?" Rachel asked.

"Ed, Mark and Nathan," I said absently.

"Mark?" Tobias said, thinking, and then it clicked. "He was the guy that stuffed my head down the toilet before you pulled him off me."

I turned around and looked at him. I studied his face, trying to remember. I saw myself pulling a black-spiked haired kid off a spluttering Tobias.

"Oh yeah," I said, smiling. "Now I know why I like that guy."

"You're a jerk," Rachel snapped. "You've gone from all around nice guy to a complete jerk."

"Thanks for the compliment," I said. "Now can you get out?"

"Come on, Tobias," Rachel said, giving me a dirty look. "Let's get out of here." She slammed my Marilyn Manson CD on my desk.

She whirled around and walked towards the door. She opened it and waited calmly. Tobias gave me a hurt look before walking out the door. Rachel followed.

"That was low, Jake," Marco said. "Really low."

"This coming from the guy who calls him bird-boy every chance you get," I snapped.

"Jake, what's happening to you?" Cassie asked. "You were never like this."

"I have to be somewhere," I said impatiently.

Marco walked out without a second thought. Cassie gave me a pitying look and walked out after him, closing the door behind her.

I walked to what was left of my bed and sat heavily on it. I buried my face in my hands.

_Just go away, leave me alone, _I willed the pain silently.


	14. Meaningful Talk

**Cassie**

"Where do you think Tobias and Rachel went?" I asked Marco as we crossed the street.

He pointed skywards. "Does that answer your question?"

I craned my neck and looked up. A bald eagle and a red-tailed hawk were soaring the skies. I wanted to join them, to feel that freedom, but I couldn't be bothered morphing.

"You reckon Jake would mind that I'm walking with you…alone?" Marco asked seductively.

I laughed. "At the moment, I don't think Jake could care," I said. I paused, not wanting to sound desperate in what I was about to say. "Who are Ed, Mark and Nathan?"

Marco looked sideways at me. "They're bullies," he said simply. "They were always nice to Jake because I suppose they were scared of him, not that he'd do anything. They're not the type of people you'd want to be friends with."

I fell silent. I didn't want to know what these people got up to in their spare time.

We neared closer to Marco's house.

"Are you going to follow him?" I asked at last.

"No," he said truthfully.

"Rachel and Tobias have given up on him," I said. "You're not giving up on him too?"

"I'm giving up on nobody," he said. "But he's not exactly acting Mr. Perfect right about now."

"He lost his dad," I exclaimed. "He was right there."

"Yeah and I sympathise with him," Marco said. "I know what it's like to lose someone."

"But…?"  
"But nothing," he said.

"So why aren't you going to follow him?" I pressed.

"Come on Cassie," he said, smiling. "How could I spy on my best friend?"  
We reached his house and he walked in. I continued on towards my barn.

_**Author's Note **Okay, I know this is a really small chapter but I couldn't think of anything! Sorry:D But since it's holidays down here in Aussie, or at least my part of Australia, I've got nothing to do a majority of the time coz my friends are on holiday somewhere and have left me behind (thanks a lot guys!), so I'll be doing a lot of updating and maybe even finish it! Yay! Woo hoo! Yeah that's enough. So thanks to all my reviewers! _


	15. Heavy Stuff

_**Author's Note **I've got to warn you guys: DRUGS! They don't exactly use it just yet, but just so you know. I don't want to offend anyone and I'm sorry if I'm going to, I don't mean it!_

**Jake**

"What's up?" I asked Ed, Mark and Nathan as I walked into the alley.

"Nothing much," Nathan replied. "Check out this new comic we pinched."

I did a double take. "You stole it?" I asked.

"Sure," Mark shrugged. "No big deal." He paused thinking. "Jake, when's your dad's funeral?"

"This Friday," I said.

"So, it's Wednesday today," Ed said thoughtfully. "That's in two days time!"

"Actually less than two days," I corrected. "It's Wednesday afternoon."

"Anyway, we were thinking of coming," Nathan said. "You know, pay our respects or something like that."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Ed said. "Hey Jake, we've been friends for about a couple of weeks now and we've seen something."

My head snapped up. I hadn't morphed since the accident; it couldn't be anything that had to do with that. Unless they were Yeerks and had seen the others morph then put two and two together.

"We can tell you're really down on this whole car accident thing," Ed continued and I breathed a sigh of relief. "And we have just the cure."

He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out something. I stared at it for a minute and then I recognised what it was. Inside the plastic bag Ed was holding up, was a leafy substance.

"Is that…?"

"Marijuana," Nathan said happily. "We've been using for a couple of years now."

"You buy it?" I asked.

"We grow it," Mark corrected.

"How do you get away with it?" I asked, cautiously.

"We grow it in my backyard," Ed said. "My dad's half dead all the time since mum died so he has no idea."

"Anyway," Nathan said. "We're giving this to you."

I looked at it uneasily.

"Trust us," Mark said. "It'll be great. We know how much it hurts to have someone died; we've all had it done to us. Taking this will save you."

I stared at it. I was desperate for this sinking, painful feeling to go away. But taking drugs? I was always against that. I hated drugs and what they did to people.

"We won't pressure you or anything," Nathan said. "We know you're not into all this stuff and that's cool, but we're just trying to help."

I grabbed it out of Ed's hands. "Alright," I said.

They smiled at me.

"Don't inhale it just yet," Mark said. "Save it for when you really need it. Like the funeral."


	16. Back In The Game

**Rachel**

"We need to think about our next mission," I said to the group assembled in Cassie's barn.

Cassie was tending to a sick horse while Tobias was perched in the rafters. Marco was lounging on a bale of hay and Ax was standing in human morph looking at Cassie interestingly. I was sitting on a bale of hay speaking loudly to get everyone's attention.

"I don't think so," Cassie said. "There are no missions until Jake is our leader again."

"Jake is not going to be our leader," I snorted. "He smokes!"

"Oh yeah and that's a great argument," Marco mumbled. Loudly, he said, "I have to agree with Rachel though. Jake's messed up pretty bad, there's no way he's going to lead us."

((And we need to start getting back in the game,)) Tobias said. ((There are still Yeerks out there.))

"Okay, bird-boy lets get a few things straight," Marco said. "First, this is not a game. It's not like we're playing football or soccer. And second…" he paused.

"Second?" I urged.

"That's all I've got," he said sheepishly.

I sighed. "Either way we have to kick Yeerk butt."

"We can't do this without Jake," Cassie argued. "It won't seem right."

"It won't seem right if Jake fights and he's not himself," I snapped. "Let's take a vote."

"I'm for the mission," Marco said and then stopped. "Did I just say that?"

"I'm against," Cassie said.

((I'm for,)) Tobias said.

I turned to Ax.

"I only follow Prince Jake. Ake. J-ak. Ke." He said.

I turned to Cassie. "I vote for," I said. "Sorry, you're outnumbered."

"Fine," she snapped. "When do we do this?"

"Not Friday," I said. "The funeral's on and Marco and I are definitely going."

"Well, today's Thursday afternoon," Marco said. "We'll have to do it after the funeral. We'll have to plan."

"The Sharing's an easy target," I suggested.

"Tom…" Cassie began.

"We won't hurt Tom," I promised. "I don't want another death in the family."

"So, Saturday?" Marco asked. "I've got nothing better to do."

"It's planned then," I said.

"That's not a plan," Cassie objected. "We don't even know if the Sharing's having any meetings or events on Saturday. We don't know where it is or what time. We don't know if they'll have Hork-Bajir all over the place. This is not a plan."

((How are we supposed to get the Sharing's information?)) Tobias asked. ((Jake was the one who found out about all that.))

"We can ask Erek," I said referring to Erek the Chee. "He'll know for sure."

Cassie looked disappointed.

"I will only do this with Prince Jake," Ax said. "I only follow him."

"Are you telling me you're not going to be in this battle?" I asked incredulously.

"That is indeed correct," Ax said. "I will not fight unless it is Prince Jake's wish. Wis-ish. Ish. Shhh."

"That's fine," Marco said. "But when you want to go behind Jake's back, we're not going to be there for you."

Ax looked uneasy, but shrugged, a human gesture he had learned and walked out.

"He was always loyal to Jake," I said.

((I'm going to talk with Erek,)) Tobias said. ((See when the next meeting is.))

He flew off.

_**Author's Note **I'm doing alot of these Author's notes aren't I? But just to let you know, I'm going to do another Tom chapter but it's not going to be until the very end! Actually it might even be Tom's Yeerk!_


	17. What Happened to Respect?

**Jake**

Friday morning. Dad's funeral. It started at twelve and I was still in bed. I didn't want to go and the first person who decided to wake me up would hear about how much I don't want to go. In my mind I replayed the last moments of consciousness in the destroyed car with my dad. This had become a regular thing for me before I go to sleep at night and after I wake up in the morning. It never lessened the pain, only strengthened it. But I couldn't stop the images coming.

I heard my mum enter my bedroom and turn on the light. I dug my face further into my pillow. I felt my bed lower slightly as her weight was added to it.

"Jake," she said slowly. "You need to get up. We need to be out of here in three hours."

I didn't answer, just dug my head deeper into my pillow.

"Jake, I won't tolerate this," she said sterner. "Get up."

"I'm not going to the funeral," I said sharply.

"He's your father," she snapped. "You're going."

She got up and walked towards the door.

"I don't want to go," I repeated firmly sitting up in bed. "Funerals mean nothing to me. All a funeral is about is some guy standing up in front of everyone saying stuff about dad. Talking about how great he was when he didn't even know him."

My mum gave me a cold stare. "You don't want to go?" she challenged. "Then I won't make you. Just don't come running to me when you realise you've made a mistake."

"Don't worry I won't," I snapped as she exited and I flopped back on the bed.

_**Author's Note **Jake is OOC!_


	18. Pestering Police

**Marco**

I looked around, staring at all the dark clad people walking around. I was standing in a cemetery with my dad. I was wearing a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. Not very appealing, but I was at a funeral. I had skipped school for this. Personally, I would have preferred school over this, but I had to go. Partly because I was being forced and partly because this was Jake's dad and I had to be there for Jake.

"This sucks," I muttered to my dad.

"Watch your mouth, kiddo," my dad said. "We're at a funeral. Pay your respects."

I looked around, hoping to spot Rachel. Cassie had to go to school and Tobias and Ax decided that this wasn't their place, so it was only going to be Rachel and me. I scanned the cemetery and the faces of the many people walking past. A little girl ran past.

"Mummy!" she screamed. "Mummy, look, daddy's here!"

I turned around to look in the direction the little girl was pointing at. A tall man was standing there, hugging a girl with long blonde hair. Rachel.

A woman walked briskly past us, Rachel's mum, with another girl following, Rachel's sister Jordan. The little girl, Rachel's other sister, Sara, jumped into her father's arms.

Rachel turned around and spotted me. She started to walk away from the crowd and towards a clutter of graves.

"Hey, dad, I'll be back in a minute," I said.

"What, you going to leave me here by myself?" he asked desperately.

"You'll be fine," I said. "Just don't talk to any strange people."

He laughed, then looking around uncertainly, muffled his laughter. I walked off in the direction of Rachel. She was wearing a black dress and a black hat, her hair swaying around her.

"We have to stop meeting like this," I said in a low seductive voice.

"Shut up," she snapped. "I only called you over because I wanted to let you know Tobias got the information off Erek."

"Yeah?" I asked, trying not to sound too happy.

"We were right," she said. "Saturday. Tomorrow."

"Where?"

"They're holding a beach party," she said. "It'll be held then."

"Arrange a meeting after school's out," I said. "The funeral will be over by then."

"Hey gang," some one said behind us.

I turned around. The last three people on Earth I would expect to be at a funeral were standing right in front of me. Ed, Mark and Nathan.

"What do you want?" Rachel snapped.

Obviously Rachel was pretty ticked off for what these guys did to Tobias.

"Just payin' our respects," Mark said, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

"You pay your respects by smoking at a funeral?" I asked as Rachel smacked the cigarette out of his hand and stood on it with her heel.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Ed asked. "You don't like smoking? Your cousin sure does."

"You stay away from my cousin," Rachel hissed.

"Are you his mother now?" Nathan asked. "He can take care of himself."

"Where is Jake, anyways?" Mark asked, looking out towards the crowd. "His mum and his brother are here."

I looked over at the crowd and saw Jake's mum hugging Rachel's dad. Tom was standing in the background looking gloomy, but there was no sign of Jake. I glanced at Rachel nervously.

"I'll see what's going on," she muttered.

Ed made a move to follow her, but she stopped in front of him.

"Family only," she snapped. "Come on, Marco."

"He's not family," Nathan objected.

"Close enough," Rachel said grabbing my arm and dragging me off.

As I drew closer I could hear them talk. My dad and joined in and was talking with Rachel's dad.

"Where's Jake?" Rachel asked Naomi.

Naomi sighed. "He refused to come," she said.

"And I'm going over there to drag him here," Rachel's father said angrily.

"Let him be, Dan," Naomi said. "If you drag him over here he's going to resent it."

"I don't care," Dan argued. "This is his dad's funeral. This is his obligation. Hell, I'd want my kids to go to my funeral."

"Don't worry about it Dan," Jean said.

"And what about you?" he raged, turning to Tom. "You just let your brother sleep in during your father's funeral."

"Like he would have listened to me," Tom said. "He doesn't listen to what I say anymore."

"I'm getting him," Dan said, making up his mind and walking towards the many cars parked on the side street of the cemetery.

"Dan, get back here," Naomi shouted, gaining curious glares.

Dan walked back up to her, but turned his attention to Jean.

"Jake is a good, mature boy," he said. "Is he on drugs?"

"Come on," my dad said, tugging my elbow. "We're going to leave them."

"No," I said, shaking him. "I want to hear this."

Strangely, he didn't object but just stayed there.

"I hope not!" Jean said angrily.

"Well that's the only reason I can think of why Jake is acting this way," Dan said.

"Yes, why is your son not here," a voice said from behind us.

I turned around. Constables Doyle and Lawson from the hospital were standing before us, uniform and all.

"What are you doing here?" Jean asked. "The service starts in ten minutes."

"Unfortunately, this is the only place we could reach you," Doyle said. "As you have conveniently been tied up or away when we visit you."

"My family comes before the police," Jean snapped.

"Then you wouldn't mind being present when your son is being interviewed by the police," Lawson spoke curtly.

"I don't want him to be interviewed by the police," Jean challenged. "After what you people did to my husband…"

"That was a necessary precaution," Doyle said raising his voice. "We have taken your car into a mechanic, or what was left of the car. It was in perfect condition, which means that foul play cannot be suspected. The doctors have confirmed that the two persons involved in the accident, your husband and your youngest son, were both conscious at the same time. Which means either that it was a careless accident, the road was unworthy, which I seriously doubt, or it was a suicidal incident."

"My husband was not suicidal," Jean nearly shouted. People were definitely staring.

"I'm not saying he is," Doyle said.

"Then what are you saying?" Naomi asked. "Because this conversation is leading to nowhere and the funeral starts in two minutes."

"I am saying that maybe your husband wasn't suicidal, but maybe your son is," Doyle studied Jean carefully.

"That's stupid," someone said angrily and to my surprise that someone was me.

Lawson turned to me. "Are you a friend of Jake's?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, unflinchingly as Lawson sized me up. "And Jake wouldn't kill himself. He's not suicidal."

Lawson ignored me and turned to Jean. "The psychiatrists say he has adolescent depression and this has been coming for a long time. Unless the driver was careless, which I also doubt, this was a suicidal attempt by either your son or your husband."

"We need to speak with him immediately," Doyle said.

"He's not here," Jean snapped angrily.

"He's at home then," Lawson said. "You can either come with us now or we can wait until the funeral is over."

"We'll wait," Jean said quietly as the priest jumped out of his car.


	19. A Fly's World

**Rachel**

I sat with my mum, dad and sisters throughout the whole funeral in the second row. Marco was at the back somewhere and Aunty Jean and Tom were in the front row with the two policemen. I stared angrily at them. Ed, Mark and Nathan had disappeared from my view altogether. They weren't even there when I turned back towards there after the policemen had explained everything.

I thought about what they said and the more I thought about it the more it sounded ridiculous. Jake was anything but suicidal, I knew that for sure. He might not be an optimist, but he certainly valued life. I've heard him say how precious life was since we started this whole war thing and it made me sick thinking about what the policemen said.

I sat through the majority of the funeral thinking about Uncle Steve, some weren't lovely thoughts. As much as I hate to admit it, I sat there and thought how happy I was that it wasn't me or my sisters or my mum or my dad. I sat there and actually thought that if it had to happen, I was glad it happened to Uncle Steve and that I wouldn't suffer so much like Jake.

At the end of the service, everyone crowded around and talked about Uncle Steve. The usual stuff you'd say at a funeral like the times people spent with him, the fun times and the horrible times. I spent that time with my sisters, trying to explain to Sara why Uncle Steve wasn't around and where Jake was. Marco's dad was talking to my dad and my mum was talking softly with Aunty Jean. The two policemen were hanging in the background, watching them closely. I looked around for Marco and found him away from everybody else, looking down at a grave. I walked over to him and stared at the grave. His mother.

"I want to destroy this," Marco said with a laugh. "It's annoying."

"One day you'll get her back," I said quietly.

"Yeah," he said. "I bet Jake wishes he could say that about his dad."

"Suicide," I whispered. "Not likely."

"He's hiding something," Marco said, turning away from the grave. "And what the hell happened to Ed, Mark and Nathan?"

"Missed us already?"

Ed, Mark and Nathan were striding towards, carefully avoiding the graves.

"Hardly," I replied. "We were just wondering where you went. I didn't see you at the service."

"We don't do well at funerals," Mark replied. "Too much tears." He convulsed. "It's pitiful."

I felt my blood boil. "So why did you come?" I demanded.

"It was Jake's old man," Nathan shrugged. "Thought we'd be mates."

"You're doing a great job too," Marco sneered.

Ed turned his head towards Marco.

"At least we are his friends," he said. "Don't see you hanging around him anymore. What happened? He got tired of you?"

I could literally feel the heat radiate off Marco's face, but he said nothing.

"So where did you go?" I asked, impatiently.

"Around," Nathan said.

"Did you go to see Jake," Marco asked, giving him a sideways glance.

"Didn't have time," Mark answered. "We went over to that takeaway shop down the road."

I snorted.

"You don't believe us?" Nathan asked indignantly. "My mouth still has the taste, would you like to experience it's…goodness from my mouth?"

I pushed him away. "What do you think the chances of that happening?" I asked. "Slim to none, none or I'll crack your head on the ground."

"Feisty," Nathan commented slyly. "I like that."

"Back off," Marco said, stepping forward.

"Or what?" Ed asked, stepping forwards and bumping his shoulder into Marco's.

In my mind I pictured myself turning into a grizzly and tearing their throats out. I shoved that picture out of my mind and turned to them, but before I could say anything, my mum called out to me.

"Rachel, honey, we're going with the police to see Jake," she said. "Do you want to come?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," I shouted back. "Coming?" I asked Marco.

"Na," he said and looking at Ed, Mark and Nathan. "I'm not his friend."

"You all can't be present during the cross-examination," Lawson said when we were all assembled outside Jake's house. "Only one adult."

"That would be me," Aunty Jean said.

She took out her keys and opened the front door. Everyone piled in. Sara ran in and jumped on the couch. Mum ran after her and sat her down on her lap. Tom walked into the kitchen and started pouring himself and my dad a drink. Aunty Jean and the two cops walked in the direction of Jake's room. Jordan walked up to me and started having a conversation with me.

"Hey," I said halfway through her explanation about one of her crushes. "I need to go to the toilet, speak to me later."

She mumbled something rude and hurried off to find dad. I walked hurriedly to the toilet. I walked in locked the door and started stripping my clothing until I got to my spandex underneath. I had planned to sit in on this interview with the police and nothing would stop me. Fly was a good morph. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my fly morph. The changes began and I grew smaller. When I had completely changed into fly, with my clothing all over the floor, I flew under the door and through my fly eyes flew up to Jake's bedroom. The door was obviously locked, but I didn't find that a problem. I simply flew under the door and into the bedroom. Jake was sitting at his desk looking really ticked off. Aunty Jean was sitting on his bed and the two cops were standing side by side by the door. I flew and perched on the wall where I had hearing advantages.

"Now that you know that, we may begin," Doyle was saying.

"Wait," Lawson interrupted. "You have to be aware Jake, that we will be taping this interview, so I advise you think very carefully about what you are about to say."

He placed a small tape recorder on Jake's bedside table and pressed a button.

"Senior Constable Lawson and Senior Constable Doyle conducting an interview with Jake (……)," he paused and glanced at his watch. "At five-fifty-nine p.m. Jake's mother Jean is accompanying him. Now Jake, lets get down to the basics. Were you in the car crash with your father?"

Jake now had a bored expression on his face. "Apparently," he said.

"Apparently?" Doyle said. "We don't want that kind of response. Were you or weren't you in that car accident with your dad?"

Jake hesitated and then nodded.

"Jake, we need a verbal answer for the recorder," Lawson said.

Jake sighed. "Yes, I was in the car accident."

"What do you remember about the car accident?" Lawson asked.

As I watched the two cops I identified their personalities. Lawson was the nice, gentle cop that could turn nasty when he had to, but understood situations and reacted accordingly. He was an all around nice guy. Much like Jake or who Jake used to be. Doyle, on the other hand, was a jerk. He didn't care about the person's feeling as long as he got information out of them. Even if it was useless information.

"I don't remember anything," Jake said, falling back on his lie.

"Listen, kiddo," Doyle said, striding towards Jake. "We know nothing's wrong with your memory, so you better spit it out or we'll make you."

"Interview suspended at three past six," Lawson snapped. He pressed the stop button on the recorder and faced Aunty Jean who had risen from the bed and was standing protectively in front of Jake.

"Jean, I am sorry for that outburst," he said, then turning to his partner. "Tom that was inappropriate. I will conduct the rest of the interview."

Doyle gave his colleague a greasy before walking back to the other side of the room, and Jean moved aside carefully and back on the bed.

Lawson walked towards the tape recorder again and pressed play.

"Interview sustained at five past three p.m.," Lawson said. "Now, Jake, according to your doctors, there is nothing wrong with your memory. So you should have no problems trying to remember the crash."

"Maybe the doctors made a mistake," Jake shrugged. "But I seriously can't remember the crash."

"The doctors also claim that you and your father were both conscious at the same time just after the crash," Lawson continued. "Do you remember anything about that?"

Jake seemed to shift uncomfortably, but he looked at Lawson with a coldness in his eyes and when he spoke it was hard and expressionless.

"No," he said. "I don't remember a thing about being conscious at the same time as my dad."

"You do realise it is a federal crime to lie to the police?" Lawson said, this time he had the hardness in his voice.

"Yes," Jake said.

"If you can't remember we must take some evidence into consideration," Lawson said. "Do you realise that your depression has been going on since before the car accident, which gives us reason to believe that you may have caused the accident yourself."

"What?" Jake sat up straight. "You think I murdered my dad?"

"Manslaughter would be the word," Lawson said. "In order to end your life, you had to sacrifice your father's."

Jake stood up. "You're joking me," he said.

"Unfortunately I'm not," Lawson said solemnly. "So unless you can provide any other explanation for the accident, I will be forced to put my plans into action."

"And what are your plans?" Aunty Jean asked.

"Because of his depression he will be put into a care facility," Lawson explained. "But if it is found that he doesn't have depression because the doctors have made a mistake, which I doubt, he will be put into a juvenile correctional facility."

I have never seen anyone talk down to Jake before, I have never seen anyone act like he is just some kid, that he didn't matter, but that cop did. I knew Jake hated it and I hated it because I knew the truth. I tried not to think about it. I tried to just forget about it, because I couldn't betray Jake, but the way he was going I knew I had no choice. I had been on the phone with him when he and his dad had crashed. I heard what had happened. He yelled at his dad to stop, to watch out. He didn't crash the car, his dad did, my uncle. For what reason I don't know, but I knew he hadn't crashed the car. He was protecting his dad. He knew what was at stake for himself, but he didn't care. He didn't want his dad, the well loved doctor, to go down in the history books as a reckless driver. But I didn't want my cousin to go down as some kind of suicidal, murderous idiot. And if it came to it, I would tell the police what I had learned. I would tell the police everything about what I knew about the crash.

Lawson had long turned off the recorder and was now talking casually with Jake and Aunty Jean..

"If you remember anything at all, please contact us," he said. "Come on, Tom, let's go."

They walked out and Jake and Aunty Jean were left there. I took my chance and flew out after the cops.

_**Author's Note **Apparently I do have a life after all which is why I didn't update yesterday! Who would have known! Anyhow, thanks to all my reviewers especially **Soul Raider 116** because I'm learning a few things about American terminology! I'm soooo smart! (Yeah right!) So thankyou! Oh, and whoever has time should read **LilManiac's **story, **FUTURE SHOCKED! **Great Story! And thankyou to everyone who has read and reviewed! THANKYOU! _


	20. Let's Do It

**Tobias**

((Where have you been?)) I asked Rachel as she walked into the barn.

I stared down at her from the rafters and noticed her shaken expression.

"Um…Jake's," she said distantly, sitting down on a bale of hay, opposite to the one Marco was sitting on.

Cassie studied her from her position near a sick chicken.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Rachel said, snapping out of her trance. "What have we got?"

((Usually, Ax would give you the details, but as he refuses to be in this battle at all, I suppose I better lay it down for you,)) I said, not looking away from Rachel. ((The beach party is being held at around about one tomorrow. We all still want to do this?))

"Yeah," Marco said. "I hate to admit it, but I'm kind of missing all the fighting."

"I suppose I'll have to go," Cassie said.

Rachel seemed hesitant, which was a first for her.

((Rachel?)) I asked.

She smiled weakly. "Let's do it."

_**Author's Note **Short chapter I know! Couldn't (and wouldn't) think of anything else! Oh, and just so you know Marco was being sarcastic when he said he's not Jake's friend! I mustn't have written that part right! Sorry! Thanks to all my reviewers!_


	21. When It Just Gets Too Much

**Jake**

I shivered uncontrollably. A nuthouse? I was going to be sent to a nuthouse? No, this couldn't happen. I sat at my desk, rubbing my temples in vain. Alone again, I opened my desk drawer and peered in. There, sitting at the back of my drawer, was the plastic bag filled with marijuana. I hadn't taken it…yet. I made sure my door was locked shut before taking it out of the drawer. I looked at it closely before slamming it down on my desk. I got up and started pacing the length of my desk, thinking.

They think I murdered my dad. When the police left, I had looked into my mum's eyes and I could see some sort of realisation cross them. She believed that I had murdered dad. They all believed it. I wondered if the Animorphs believed it. How could one day screw up my whole life? I didn't kill my dad; he had driven off his side of the road. It wasn't my fault. But I couldn't tell them that. It would ruin his reputation; it would give him a bad name. I couldn't do that to him. But how could I live in a nuthouse or in juvie? How could I live with everyone thinking I had killed my own dad? How could I live knowing that everyone thought I was suicidal? After everything I have done for everyone, all the killing, I didn't come off as a hero, but as a stupid kid who kills his own father. Suddenly it became too much. The pain was unbearable. I needed out of everything. I had to get out and I didn't mean out of a human being. I needed to relieve the pain. I lunged at my desk.

_**Author's Note **Another short chapter! AHHHH! I'm pathetic! lol_


	22. Insecurities

**Cassie**

I checked my watch. Twelve-forty-eight. They should be here by now. I changed the water for a sick badger and paced the length of the barn, like Jake would have done. Jake. Just thinking about him made me want to cry. What made me so sad and angry at the same time was knowing that he had resorted to smoking. But now wasn't the time to think about it. I had more pressing matters like this new mission we had to do today. Where was everyone? As if in answer to my question, I heard hurried footsteps.

"We're here," Rachel said, striding in. Marco followed and Tobias flew in.

"About time," I complained.

((Alright does everyone know what to do?)) Tobias asked, nestled in the rafters.

"Yeah," Marco said. "Crash their party, wreck some havoc. How hard is that?" He paused. "And since when did you become the leader?" he asked glancing up at Tobias.

Tobias shifted uncomfortably. ((Just getting the low-down.)) he said grumpily.

"So let's get going, already," Rachel said impatiently.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

She seemed worried and nervous.

"Yeah, fine," she said and started stripping down to her spandex underneath.

She closed her eyes and I could see the changes to bald eagle begin.

Five minutes later we were in the sky. We were far apart but still in thought speech range. It was just the four of us. It didn't seem right. I wanted to hear Jake's pep talk or his reassuring voice in my head, telling me that we'd get out of there alive. But he wasn't there with us. It was just the four of us.

((Alright, there's a bit of a cave down there,)) Marco said in my head as we flew over the beach. I could already see people dancing to music and just lazing around, eating a hotdog or licking an ice-cream.

Marco's cave was around a cove close to the beach. It would be an easy run from the cave to the beach, nothing to it and we'd be out of sight from everyone who walked past. Nobody said a word as we flew down to the cave, demorphed and morphed. My wolf senses tingled as I smelled a bear and a gorilla nearby. My wolf instincts told me to pounce, but I knew I had bigger issues than a bear and a gorilla at the moment.

((You guys ready?)) I asked when I was finished.

((Yeah,)) Rachel responded. ((Let's do it!))

We pounded on the beach.


	23. A Trip To The Beach

**Jake**

Don't ask me why I was at the beach. Ed, Mark and Nathan thought they'd get a kick out of it. I didn't want to go, but they practically pushed me. What I had failed to notice, however, was the fact that the beach was the host for a Sharing event, yet again. I don't think Ed, Mark and Nathan were too happy about all the people around, which relieved my worries that they were Yeerks.

I leant against a wall separating the street from the beach. Ed was beside me and Nathan beside him. Mark went off to talk to some girls. Not that they took much notice in him.

"Jake, my man," Nathan said, lighting up a cigarette. "Your cousin…whoa."

I didn't bother to reply. It wasn't the first time I've heard someone talk about Rachel like that. Before I might have stuck up for her, but now I couldn't really care. It was just talk.

"Did you try you-know what?" Ed asked, slyly to me.

I shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah…uh, great stuff."

"Great," Nathan said. "We got some more. We'll give it to you tomorrow."

I turned away and looked over at the beach. Tom didn't come today; he had a more important meeting. So that's what he told me this morning when I was half awake.

"Hey, what's that?" Ed asked, pointing in the distance towards the far end of the beach.

I turned and what I saw made my blood freeze. A rampaging bear, a bounding wolf, a lumbering gorilla and a soaring red-tailed hawk. People started screaming and running onto the street.

"Mark!" Nathan shouted. "Get out of here! There's a freaking bear over there."

Ed started to run after Mark and Nathan took off. I was about to follow when someone grabbed my arm. I turned around and found Erek the Chee holding me back. He produced a hologram around us. I tried back off, but he held me there. His mechanical dog face grinning up at me.

"What do you want Erek?" I asked impatiently.

"Why aren't you out there with them?" he asked. "You are their leader."

"I'm not in this anymore," I said. "They can handle it without me."

"You are their leader," he said. "They need you."

I snorted. "They don't need me."

"No?" he asked. "Take a look. One minute into it and they are already outnumbered and cornered."

I twirled around and saw about fifty human controllers circling a bear, a gorilla and a wolf. The red-tailed hawk was circling over head, trying to peck someone's eye out. But it was no use. I saw Rachel try to jump on a human controller, but she was stunned with several Dracon beams and stumbled back, roaring in pain.

"How could they be in trouble?" I raged, thanking Erek for his hologram. "They were hardly out there for five minutes."

"They are only four," Erek said. "They have no one to lead them."

I turned back around and saw a very prominent human to all Yeerks walk up to them. Visser Three in human morph.

"Crap," I cursed. "I'm morphing, you want to cover me?"

Erek smiled more broadly if that was possible. "Sure," he said.

I stripped down to my bike shorts and t-shirt. It was a habit now. I started to morph tiger. The changes began.

_**Author's Note **Alright, my apologies for the last couple of chapters. Short ones and I feel guilty! Also sorry if I disappoint anyone in any of the chapters, especially this one because I just can't imagine three animals and a bird taking on armed controllers by themselves! Oh well. I knew this fic wasn't going to be good to begin with! Thankyou to all my reviewers! _


	24. Threats

**Marco**

"Well, well, well," Visser Three said, striding towards us through the many human controllers. "Three Andalite Bandits," then he glanced up and noticed Tobias. "We can get that one down later." He chuckled, very disturbing really. "But where are the other two? The Andalite and the Andalite in tiger morph."

((Did you really think I was going to miss out on all the fun?))

From behind the Visser, a tiger trotted towards us. Jake. The Visser turned sharply and looked down at him with contempt. The many human controllers seemed to deflate.

"My favourite Andalite Bandit," the Visser said. "It will be a great honour killing you."

I swear Jake's tiger face could have smiled. ((I pity you Visser,)) he said, sounding cocky like a true Andalite would. ((Because by tomorrow, you will wish sorely that you were dreaming.))

The Visser laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. "Andalite, look around you," he pointed to the many armed human controllers. "You are deeply mistaken. Fifty-eight armed human controllers surround you and your pitiful warriors," he smiled. "You are dead."

The smile from Jake's tiger face vanished. I shifted my gorilla body uncomfortably. One of the human controllers must have thought I was going to attack, because they set fire and the next second a large hole appeared in my shoulder. I roared in pain.

((Marco!)) Cassie said quietly so only she and I could hear.

((I'm alright,)) I reassured her.

((Visser, are you threatening me?)) Jake asked, unaware of my pain. That's a lot buddy.

"Andalite, are you blind?" the Visser asked. "You are already threatened. But maybe we can come to some sort of agreement."  
Jake paused. ((What sort of an agreement?))

"We fight, a battle between you and me," the Visser smirked. "In your true form and mine."

((Deal,)) Jake said, automatically.

((Jake!)) Rachel shouted. ((Are you serious?))

Jake didn't answer, but he didn't demorph.

((You first, Visser,)) he said.

The Visser demorphed. When he was fully Andalite he turned all four eyes on Jake.

((Now, you, Andalite,)) he said.

((I don't think so Visser,)) Jake said, slyly. ((You see the agreement was to be in our true forms. But you are not in yours.))

The Visser looked infuriated. ((Andalite scum!)) he spat. ((I will be the death of you!))

((I doubt that,)) Jake said and lunged.

I had hardly enough time to contemplate what was happening. Blood gushed out of me as human controllers scattered, some towards the Visser and Jake and some away from it. Either way, nobody tried to stop the rest of us.

((Come on Marco,)) Tobias shouted from the sky. ((Let's help Jake.))

((No!)) Jake yelled in our heads. ((Get back. I don't need your help.))

But despite what Jake was saying, he did need our help. Human controllers, no matter how much people had run away, were all over him. The Visser was on the ground, his tail blade ripped from him and lying a couple of feet away, gushing blood. He lay on the ground, screaming obscenities while Jake tried to fight off the swarming human controllers. Many fired Dracon beams, but many had been injured.

((Get out of here!)) Jake shouted in our heads.

((Not a chance,)) Rachel said and plunged forward into the thick, scattering human controllers.

Tobias dove down and started pecking as much people in the eyes as possible, probably doing a good job at it too. Cassie bounded towards a human controller firing at Rachel, but I stayed away, swaying, the pain getting to me.

((Get out of here, Marco!)) Cassie shouted. ((You're hurt! Get away!))

I didn't need telling twice. Without a second glance, I lumbered away from the havoc and down the beach in the direction we had come from.

From the distance as I neared closer and closer to the cave, I heard Jake give his last threat to the Visser.

((Don't mess with me Visser,)) he said, hollowly. ((I won't tolerate it.))

I heard them race after me, but I reached the safety of the cave and started demorphing well before any of them. I was fully human when they entered the cave. Cassie was cut up pretty badly. Rachel had many holes through her torso and I could tell that she had just made it. Jake was missing his tail and one of his eyes was closed due to the large cut going through it. Tobias was unharmed. They started to demorph immediately while I watched on.

"That was close," I said, as Cassie became fully human again.

"That was the stupidest mission I have ever been on," Cassie commented. "Next time we do nothing unless we have more than four people."

((It wasn't that bad,)) Tobias objected from Rachel's now human shoulder.

"Speak for yourself," I spat. "Not all of us had wings to fly away with."

Jake had now demorphed completely. He gave us all a dirty look before turning around and walking calmly back to the entrance of the cave.

"Hey, you're not going to stay around?" Rachel shouted after him.

"No thanks," he spat at us. "I have better things to do."

((So why did you come to the beach to help us out?)) Tobias asked.

"I didn't come to the beach for you," Jake said, laughing. "I was already at the beach."

"What were you doing?" I asked. "Looking to get infested?"

"I was with my friends," Jake defended.

"What friends?" I asked. "Those thugs? Ed, Mark and Nathan? They're hardly friends."  
"They're more friends than any of you," Jake said.

There was a deadly quiet that was only interrupted by the waves lapping against the shore. Everyone stared at Jake. Jake stared at us, unflinchingly.

"Hey we saved your butt out there," Rachel raged, breaking the silence. "You should be thanking us!"  
"Did you just say you saved my butt?" Jake argued. "Last thing I saw was a few humans shooting you down. I handled the Visser on my own. I saved you from infestation."

"I need to speak to you," Rachel said softly. It wasn't a nice soft voice she used; it was more like a deadly soft voice.

"What?" Jake said.

"I want to speak to you," Rachel repeated. "Now."

"I don't think so," Jake said, turning around to go.

"I said I wanted to speak with you," she said louder. "I want to speak with you. NOW!"

"Rachel," Cassie said, obviously alarmed. "What are you doing?"

Rachel looked at Cassie, then at me and finally at Tobias.

"I want to talk to Jake for a minute," she said. "Do you mind?"

((Sure,)) Tobias said and flew out.

Cassie walked out after him, but I stayed.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking from Jake to Rachel

Rachel was practically growling like the bear she just was. Jake, like me, obviously had no idea what was going on.

"I need to talk to Jake," Rachel said, not taking her eyes off him.

Slowly, I walked towards the exit.


	25. Occurrences

**Rachel**

When Marco had left I turned to Jake. He had turned a nasty shade of red and had a vein popping from his temple. He literally looked like a bull ready to charge.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"You tell me," I said. "Why didn't you come to the funeral yesterday?"

"How the hell is that any of your business?" he raged.

"I was at your house yesterday," I said. "Did you know that?"

Jake looked puzzled. Then it hit him. "What morph were you in?" he asked furiously.

"Fly," I said simply. "But me being present while that interview was going on affects nothing, except for one little detail."

Jake winced. "And what would that be?" he asked.

"I was on the phone with you when the car crashed, did you know that?" I walked closer to him; the way a person does in the movies when they're tormenting someone. It was working too.

"Obviously," Jake replied. "I was conscious…"

He stopped suddenly. He realised his mistake. But it was too late.

"So you do remember," I said triumphantly.

Jake remained silent, staring at me furiously.

"When I was on the phone with you, I heard something, just before the crash," I continued. "I'm sure you remember what it was."

Jake took a step back from me as I drew nose to nose with him.

"You're blackmailing me!" he said. "Who do you think you are?"

"You could go to a nuthouse Jake!" I shouted deliriously. "You could go to juvie! Just so your dad wouldn't be called a reckless driver. Just admit it. He was the cause of the accident."

Jake seemed to smile. "Why don't you prove it?" he whispered.

He turned around and that was the last I saw of him. I had a sinking feeling. I thought I had it. Obviously I had underestimated Jake's sense of mind.

……………………………………………..

"What's going on?" Cassie asked as I joined them outside the cave. Jake had left.

((Jake didn't say anything when he left,)) Tobias said.

"It's nothing," I shrugged. "Just the usual leader-warrior thing."

"Except that he's not our leader anymore, is he?" Marco pointed out shrewdly.

"I just told him off for not going to the funeral," I said, walking down the cove.

I looked along the beach and was not surprised to find it completely deserted. The Visser's tail was gone, but there was a patch of red, where the blood had spilled. In the distance I could make out the street. Ongoing cars were oblivious to what had just happened. But not for long. Faintly I could hear sirens drawing closer. The police, maybe even the paramedics, were progressing towards us. Three kids standing in spandex with a bird on a deserted beach was not how I wanted to be uncovered.

"We got to get out of here," I said. "Now."

"No complaints there," Marco muttered, racing back into the cave.

I had no doubt which animal he planned to morph into. Which animal wouldn't be noticed much on a beach? There was only one answer to that. Seagull.

……………………………………………………

"Rachel, I will not tell you again," my mum said angrily from my bedroom door. "Get up."

I rolled around on my bed, trying to find my bedside table clock. My blurry vision told me it was eight o'clock in the morning on a Sunday, but my mind wasn't digesting it.

"Rachel!" my mum screamed, despite the fact that she had told me she wouldn't warn me again. That's lawyers for you.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and squinted back at the clock. "It's only eight!" I raged, my brain finally finding the energy to read time. "Wait till noon."

I heard my mum give a groan. "You want to sleep until twelve?" she asked, disbelievingly. "What do you think the chances of that happening?"

I sat up in bed and squinted at her. The light coming through my bedroom window seemed blinding at the moment. She was dressed in a grey outfit. A nice, lengthy skirt and a top and business jacket to match. She was holding a portable mirror to her face and smearing on red lipstick.

"Where are you going?" I yawned.

"I have work," she said. "I need you to take care of Jordan and Sara for me."

"Why can't dad do it?" I asked.

"Because your dad has left town," she said, staring up at me pitifully. "Breaking news down at the station, they wanted him back. Something about raving animals down at the beach."

"You let him go without saying goodbye?" I asked, dismally, taking no notice of the animal remark.

"Sorry sweetheart," she said, now applying eyeliner.

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"He has to provide for child support some way," my mum answered.

I stared at her. "What did you just say?" I snapped.

She looked at me. "Get out of bed, Rachel," she said. "I'm leaving in five minutes and if Sara doesn't get her daily dose of the Telitubbies at ten, I'm going to be hearing all about it for a week until I buy her the season on video."

She stalked away and I collapsed back on my pillow. Wondering why my dad had left without saying anything.

"Rachel!"

Just another exciting day for Xena.

…………………………………………………………………

"So, how was your short lived holiday?" I asked Marco as I met him in front of the school gate.

Marco looked up at the school building. "Crap," he said. "But looking up at this piece of junk, I wish I were still at home."

"Hey," Cassie approached us. "Jake's first day back at school."

"Before you say anything," I interrupted her. "I'm not going to comfort him."

"I wasn't going to say that," Cassie objected.

"Sure," Marco muttered. "And monkeys can fly."

"Speaking of monkeys," I said, looking down the sidewalk as three familiar figures gained closer and closer to the school and us.

Ed, Mark and Nathan were hard to miss. Three goonies, one with pointy black hair, one with a large nose and one that looked like Marco.

"You're blocking our way," Ed said when they reached the gate.

"Really?" I said, smiling. "Hadn't noticed."

Nathan stepped up from behind Mark. "You'll notice in a minute, sweetheart, when I have my lips locked onto your's."

I shuddered uncontrollably at the thought of his horrible tongue reaching into my mouth.

"Say that again," I snapped, clenching my fists into balls.

Nathan was about to open his mouth, undoubtedly to say it again, when he was interrupted by none other than my cousin.

"What's going on?" Jake asked, stepping out of the arrived school bus. He looked between Nathan and me suspiciously.

"Jake, my man," Mark said, slapping Jake on the back.

Jake ignored him; in fact I thought I might have seen him roll his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"Your cousin's a feisty one, Jake," Nathan said. "She better watch her back or I might…"

I think I might have snapped right then, because I had a pretty good idea of what Nathan was planning on doing. Jake did too and surprisingly he had something to say about it.

"Hey," he snapped. "You're not going to do anything to her, alright?" he said and Nathan looked at him shrewdly.

"What?" Nathan said.

"I'm serious," Jake said, now speaking calmly. "Not with my cousin."

Nathan seemed angry at being spoken to like that, but he got over it quickly.

"Whatever," he said. "Come on, I've got something for you."

Mark and Ed gave Nathan a smile and together with Jake, walked around the school building and towards the gardens which were mostly empty around this time.

_**Author's Note **Don't worry pplz, Rachel has alot to do with Jake getting better! I just like torturing them!_


	26. Cassie Gets Worried

**Cassie**

Rachel had turned red. She was really angry. I was surprised she hadn't morphed to grizzly and mauled Nathan for what he said to her.

"You sure can go red," Marco commented.

Rachel turned on him. "You liked that, didn't you?" she growled.

"Oh, no," Marco said quickly. "That was…uh, awful. He's a very bad boy." He turned away and I thought I saw a hint of a smile. "Besides, I don't fell like dying today," he muttered.

"That was sweet of Jake," I said. "He must still care."

Rachel turned on me now. "Don't even say that," she said. "They're his friends. He goes off with them now, not with us."

I looked at the entrance of the gardens. "I wonder what Nathan had for Jake." I said.

"Probably more smokes," Marco said, disgustedly.

I continued to stare at the entrance of the garden. "Maybe I should check it out," I said.

"Bad idea, Cass," Rachel said as the bell went. "Was that the bell?" she asked distractedly.

"Yeah, it's time for the cows to go home," Marco said. "You better get a move on."

Rachel kicked him in the shin. "I've got Ms. Powell first period. If I don't get there on time she's going to fail me on attendance."

Marco started wobbling up to the school, clutching his shin in protection. "I hope she does."

Rachel started after him and I could hear her threats and his pleads as they entered the school.

Everybody started hurrying up to the school, hoping not be late, but I stayed at the gate looking curiously at the entrance of the garden.

It wouldn't hurt to know what they were up to, would it? I mean, I was only looking out for Jake. There was nothing wrong in that. I would be doing the right thing if I checked up on him. That's what I would be doing: checking up on him. Yes, it was the right thing to do.

In all the confusion of students trying to get to class, I nearly lost my way to the gardens, but I wasn't going to let anything stand in my way.

The gardens were not exactly what you'd call a garden, but what else was I suppose to call it? Okay, so it was more like a dirt patch around the school, but saying garden made the school seem so much nicer. Like I had suspected, there was nobody around. And when I say nobody, I meant nobody. Jake and the others weren't around, but I could hear voices coming from around a corner. Slowly I crept to the corner and peered around. What I saw made me want to vomit.

"Oh, yeah," Mark was saying, sucking into a plastic bag. "This is the stuff."

Nathan and Ed were doing the same. The plastic bags contained green stuff and I knew it wasn't lettuce. Jake was with them, also holding a plastic bag, but unlike them, he had it as far away from his mouth as possible. He had this disgusted look on his face as he watched the others suck in this substance and then almost immediately have some sort of reaction to it.

"Come on, Jake," Ed said, from in between gasps. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'll have it later," Jake said, putting it into his bag and stepping back from the others.

I planned to turn back and run, but just then Nathan spotted me.

"Hey, who are you?" he shouted at me.

The others spun around. Jake and I locked eyes for a brief second. He was stunned as much as I was alarmed.

Mark started towards me, but I was in a full out run before he even reached me. What was happening to Jake?

Recess seemed like a long time away before it finally arrived. I wasn't in any of Rachel's or Marco's class, so I couldn't speak to them at that time. But when it did come, I was in full search mode.

"Where could they be?" I muttered to myself as I stalked down Marco's locker hall. "The cafeteria." I answered myself and added a silent duh.

"Cassie!"

I turned around, hoping to find Rachel or Marco running towards me, but I was sorely mistaken.

"Cassie!" Jake shouted again from the other end of the hall.

My breath seemed to stop short. But that didn't mean I did. I turned around quickly and almost raced to the cafeteria. I didn't hear Jake come after me. I didn't expect him to. You could never tell the emotions of a junkie.

I found Rachel sitting by herself at a spare table. She was inspecting her lunch carefully and with precision.

"What do you think this is?" she asked me as I sat down at her table. "Meat loaf or the stuff kids play with in the dirt?"  
"A little from column A and a little from column B," Marco said, as he sat beside me. "Oh, by the way, Mighty Xena, I would like to thank you for the lovely looking bruise you have produced on my shin."

"I live to give," Rachel shot back, giving him a sweet smile.

I was on the verge of cracking. I couldn't stand the calmness anymore. While Rachel and Marco were throwing insults at each other, Jake was somewhere, possibly taking drugs.

"Guys, we have a problem," I said, finally breaking my silence.

Marco groaned. "No," he said. "Listen to me carefully Cassie, we have no problems. We have a normal, happy life. Problem free."

"Shut up, Marco," Rachel snapped. "What's the problem Cassie?"

"I think Jake's smoking has gotten out of hand," I said, quietly.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"Well, when I followed them…"

"Wait a minute," Rachel interrupted. "You followed them. I thought we agreed you weren't going to do that."

"No," I objected. "You agreed, I didn't."

"So what did you find out?" Marco asked, bored.

"I think he's starting to smoke a different kind of weed," I said even quieter.

"What!" Marco exclaimed.

"Jake wouldn't do that," Rachel said defiantly as people looked our way. "Did you actually see him smoking…uh, that kind of weed?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Not exactly," I admitted. "But he did say that he was going to smoke it later and he put it in his bag."

Rachel looked more uncomfortable than ever.

"I've given up on him," I said wearily. "Smoking cigarettes I could handle, because I knew I could bring him out of that, but now…"

"Guys," Rachel said, despairingly. "There's something I need to tell you…"


	27. It's About Time

**Jake**

Where the hell was Cassie? I needed to speak with her. As much as she might hate me right now, she had to listen to me. It was the end of the school day and I hadn't seen anyone but Ed, Mark and Nathan. I didn't have any classes with any of the others today except first period with Marco, but I wagged, watching the others smoke while I worried about Cassie.

Last period I didn't have any of the Animorphs in my class, but I didn't have Ed, Mark or Nathan in my class either, so when I retrieved my bag from my locker, and walked out of the school building, I had no idea where any of them were. Trusting my suspicions that Ed, Mark and Nathan were probably in the so called garden, I ventured there. I walked across the dirt patch and around another corner, where, most recently I had watched three guys get stoned.

"Great," I muttered to myself as I found it empty.

I turned around to walk back to where I had come from, when someone grabbed my shoulders and slammed me against the school building wall. At first the face staring up at me was unfamiliar, but when I blinked again, the face couldn't have been more familiar to me. Marco's angry face glared up at me, while Rachel's equally furious glare behind him let me know why they were so angry.

I tried to push Marco off, but surprisingly, he was too strong for me at the moment.

"Where are the drugs, Jake?" he spat at me.

"What are you talking about?" I lied.

"Don't play dumb, Jake," Rachel raged. "Just give Marco the drugs."

"Get off me," I snapped, shoving Marco off me for good.

"You take drugs now, Jake?" he asked.

"No," I said simply.

Rachel didn't buy my lie and I hadn't expected her to. She stalked over to me and roughly shook my bag off my shoulder. She opened it and peered inside. A disgusted expression crossed her face and she handed the bag to Marco.

"No?" he asked, pulling out the plastic bag. "What is this?"

I looked at the bag and shuddered.

"I'm not taking it," I said, truthfully. "I've never and will never take drugs."

Rachel snorted. "Not according to Cassie."

"Cassie saw Ed, Mark and Nathan take the drugs, not me," I defended.

"So why did you lie to us?" Marco asked sceptically.

"Because I really don't think you'd appreciate it if Mark came around your place, knocking the crap out of you," I retorted.

They seemed dumbfounded by my small speech, or whatever it was.

I sighed. "Look," I said. "I really had no idea what kind of a guy Mark or any of the others were. To me they were just average people."

"Yeah, to you," Marco agreed. "But not to anybody else."

"You want that?" I asked pointing to the plastic bag filled with drugs. "Because I've got two more at home that are untouched."

"No thanks," Marco said, obviously convinced that I had nothing to do with drugs.

"Where's Cassie?" I asked, remembering that I needed to talk with her.

"She didn't want to come with us," Rachel shrugged, taking the plastic bag in two of her fingers and throwing it into a pile of dirt. "She said something about she had given up on you or something."

I turned around and walked around the corner.

"Hey, where are you going?" Rachel shouted out at me.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face them. "Ed, Mark and Nathan are desperate to keep their usage to themselves," I explained. "They know Cassie knows about it. I've realised they're capable of anything."

"Do you want us to come?" Marco asked.

"I can handle them," I replied and walked out of the "garden".

I hurried towards Cassie's barn. I knew Cassie's parents would still be at the Gardens, which ironically was actually a garden, or close enough to it anyway. The reason that her parents were out made me more particularly nervous because she was all alone.

I turned a corner into her street and knew my gut instincts had proven to be right. The entrance to her barn was in full view and I saw her bend over an injured hawk in a cage. That's not what scared me though. What scared me was the fact the three prominent figures were just entering. I quickened my pace as I heard her shout out at them.

"What's going on here?" I demanded as I walked through the barn doors and saw the three bullies smiling evilly at Cassie while Cassie held a rake protectively to her chest.

"Jake," Ed said delightfully. "You've come to help us teach this—a lesson."

Let's just take a minute there to think about that. What Ed just called Cassie should have ended in the seventies. It shouldn't have even started in the seventies. I hate that kind of language, that kind of racism. It doesn't belong in a multicultural world. In fact it didn't belong in any world, whether it be human, Yeerk or Andalite. I hated it and I was going to put a stop to it.

"What did you call her?" I asked.

Ed repeated the word, enthusiastically. Cassie looked disgusted, but didn't say anything.

I didn't want to hear that again, not to anybody and definitely not to Cassie. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and hit him. It was like hitting Marco.

"Hey, man, that's out of line," Nathan growled, stepping forward and pulling Ed away from me.

"No," I replied. "Don't tell me what's out of line."

"Why'd you do it, Jake?" Mark asked, stepping in front of the others. "We're your buddies."

I laughed. "Sure," I replied. "But not anymore. Don't you dare call anyone that filthy name again."

"Or what?" Mark challenged.

"Would you like to find out?" I said.

"Come on, guys," Ed said, holding his nose. "Let's get out of here."

Ed practically ran outside. Nathan followed, but Mark remained.

"Watch your back Jake," he said, glaring at me.

I laughed, but found no humour in it at all. "Do you know what a tiger can do to a human being, Mark?" I asked, almost innocently.

"What?" he said, obviously stumped by the question.

"Do you know what a tiger can do to a human," I repeated.

He remained silent.

"A tiger is so soundless when it moves, it moves with grace," I said, playing the part, "that when it comes to attack you, you don't even know it until your throat has been ripped out. Don't mess with me, because I can turn into that tiger."

Mark stared at me, his emotions concealed, finally he turned around and walked out of the barn.

I put a hand to my forehead, trying to numb the throb. I turned around to meet Cassie. The rake was slightly lowered, but she hadn't lost her grip.

"Cassie, put down the rake," I said wearily.

"Why?" she asked, sounding delirious. "So you can smother me with your drugs? Is that it Jake?"

"I don't do drugs," I said, defiantly. "Put the rake down," I repeated. "I prefer my eyes in their sockets, thanks."  
Cassie dropped the rake, but her eyes never left mine. "You don't do drugs?" she asked finally. "But I saw…"

"What you saw Cassie, were three guys getting high, me not included," I said, sitting on a bale of hay. "They've been giving me drugs for a while now. I've never taken it."

"You've never taken it?" she asked.

I looked up at her. "I was close to it," I admitted. "I was about to raise it to my mouth when Tom walked in on me."

"Tom walked in on you?" Cassie exclaimed, sitting down on a separate bale of hay. "Didn't you lock the door?"

"Yeah, I did, he must have picked the lock or something," I said. "That's when I knew I couldn't do it. I realised then that I had sunk lower than I've ever been in my life."

"What about the smoking?" Cassie asked, quietly.

"I quit that after the drugs," I confessed. "I was just feeling so low that I needed something to stimulate any kind of happiness I might have."

Cassie studied me for a moment and then as casually as she could, said, "What did your dad say, Jake."

I didn't even think about lying. "He told me that he loved my mum and he was proud of Tom and me. He said he wanted me to take care of myself."

I said this as though from another world. I stared out into space. By saying this it sort of made me realise that everything that had happened was true. It was all true. I was in a car accident, my dad had died. This wasn't a dream.

Cassie cleared her throat uncertainly and placed a hand on my arm. "How did the car crash?" she asked.

I looked at her carefully, snapping out of my revere. I didn't answer her, just stared at her.

"Rachel told us, Jake," she sighed. "Rachel is a witness and if you don't tell the police, she will."

"She can't prove it," I argued. "The phone is broken; they can't hack into my phone records."

"Why are you hiding it, Jake?" she asked quietly.

I got up and started pacing; rubbing my face as though I was just waking from a dream.

"What do you think they'll do with that kind of information, Cassie?" I asked.

"It was an accident," she replied. "What exactly did happen?"

I took a breath and prepared to tell what really happened for the first time. "It's funny really," I said. "He saw a Volkswagen of all cars! I mean a Volkswagen! He turned around on his seat to get a good look at it and he drove on the other side of the road. You know the rest."

Cassie stood up and walked towards me, she stood in front of me to force me to stop pacing.

"What your dad did was reckless," she said. "But it was an accident. Don't punish yourself for this. It's not your fault."

I nodded, and the funny thing was, I believed her.


	28. Call To Dad

**Rachel**

_**Volkswagen Trauma**_

_While on a trip to the country with his teenage son, Steve (…….) had become deeply immersed in the appearance of a Volkswagen, that he had manoeuvred the car off his side of the road, resulting in an accident involving a truck. His son, Jake (……) was taken to hospital suffering a broken arm, three broken ribs and numerous cuts and bruises. Steve died almost instantly but remained conscious for enough time to grant his son a farewell speech. For several weeks now, speculation has formed over the cause of the accident. However, yesterday Senior Constable Lawson confirmed the cause. A simple reckless action made by the trusted medical practitioner, has resulted in his own death and caused a time of horrible mourning for his family._

"What the hell?" I shouted, unnecessarily.

"Rachel, keep your voice down," my mum snapped. "Sara's asleep."

I slammed the newspaper down on the kitchen table and looked up at mum.

"They make it sound so dramatic," I raged. "Like some sort of Days of Our Lives episode."

My mum shrugged.

One week had passed since Jake had confessed all to the police. He spent a week in counselling and was practically back to normal. I think we've been on more battles this week than we had in a long time. Once again, Cassie had done her magic. But something was still bugging at me. I still hadn't spoken to my dad since he left. I tried to act like I didn't care, but I worried and very indignant.

"I'm going to use the cordless," I informed my mum as I picked up the cordless phone and ran up the stairs to my bedroom.

Closing the door hurriedly, I dialled my dad's home number. It was supposed to be his day off.

The phone rang for sometime and I was considering hanging up when he answered.

"Hey, Dan here," he paused, giving me room to speak.

"Hey, dad," I said casually.

"Oh, hi sweetheart, how's it going?" he asked.

"How's it going?" I echoed, firing up. "How's it going? That's all you have to say?"

There was a stunned silence on his end of the line. "What's wrong Rachel?" he finally asked.

"You left without saying goodbye!" I answered, shrilly. "That's what's wrong."

"You were asleep," he replied. "I didn't want to wake you. It's not like I've never done that before."

I shifted uncomfortably, but said nothing.

"What's wrong Rachel?" he asked.

"What if something happened?" I raged. "What if your plane had crashed?"

He was silent for a while.

"Rachel," he said in a low voice. "That will never happen."

"But, Uncle…"

"I'm not your uncle," he said.


	29. Tom's Other Half

**Tom's Yeerk**

"Pass the salt," I used my pitiful human controller's lips to ask the human Jake.

Jake practically threw the salt at me. I used my human controller's basketball skills to catch it before it rebounded off my head.

"Nice try, midget," I said. "But I was always better than you at basketball."

He glared at me and returned to his dinner.

I stared at him. For weeks now, I have contemplated over him and his behaviour. I had become more suspicious and wary towards him. How is it that a red tailed hawk can fly in and out of his hospital window without that little twerp saying anything? How is it that when that same little twerp has problems, suddenly those annoying Andalite Bandits go on hiatus as the humans would say. A bear, a hawk, a gorilla and a wolf show up at a beach party hosted by the Yeerks, the same party my fellow Yeerks have sworn Jake was at. But there was no sign of him among the running people when the tiger shows up. My brother the junkie, the Andalite bandit.

_Yeah right, _Tom sneered.

I had been careless; I had opened my mind to him, allowing him to see my thoughts, to hear my thoughts.

_You are sceptical only to yourself, _I mocked. _Your mind tells me different. You believe he is capable of what I claim. The leader of the so called Andalite Bandits._

He remained silent and I was allowed to study Jake closer and to my surprise I wasn't the only one studying. Jake was peering strangely close to my forehead. This wasn't the first time this has happened.

He caught me looking at him and quickly engaged his mum in a conversation.

_For months I have wanted proof to share with the Visser that your brother is one of them_, I said to Tom. _And now I have my proof._

I could feel my host's mind bubble with rage. He hated me and this only amused me more.

_How can you be so sure? _He raged. _Do you have photographs? You tried to sneak into his room to find proof and what did you find? Nothing. Just him trying to smoke weed._

_How can I be sure? _I asked. _Are you blind? You pathetic excuse of a creature. Too many coincidences! Ha! I don't believe in coincidences. Visser Three is going to be very pleased with me…_

**The End…**


	30. Author's Notes

Author's Notes 

Okay, that's the end and I know it's a cliffhanger and we all hate cliffhangers (I know I do), but I'm a very evil person and like to torture the characters! Mwahahahaha! Oh and just so you know, there's probably not going to be any sequel because I can't think of any so you have to do that on your own. Lol. Anyway, just saying thanks to a few reviewers!

**LilManiac **You probably have some quirky remark to say and all I have to say is BRING IT ON! Lol, I'm high today!

**Soul Raider 116 **Thankyou for the hint on American terminology, in future I'm most definitely going to use it.

**Genesis Dragon **Thankyou for the reviews and keep on writing your Saga story. I swear you have no idea how much I'm enjoying that!

**Destany Mitchell **Thankyou so much for your reviews, your one of many that reviews constantly so thankyou!

**Animorph19 **I know you're anonymous, but thankyou so much for your reviews! Your reviews are lovely, both for The Crash and The Fear so thankyou!

**Daisyz **Thankyou for you reviews! Sorry Jake and Rachel didn't get into a physical fight!

**Sassy Angel 101 **Thankyou for your reviews! Keep on writing stories and I'm sorry Erek wasn't in this fic more.

**bb47 **Thankyou muchly for the reviews! Did that make sense? Anyway, THANKYOU!

**Myitt **lol I'm saying the same thing to everyone but I can't let anyone go unnoticed especially since you were the first person to review! So thankyou so much for that! You're a darling!

**Memories of Life **Thankyou for the reviews! You're very kind and I'm sorry if I made the chapters a bit short! My bad!

**Natalie **Thankyou for the reviews! You're sweet! And I'm sorry if there's not much Cassie/Jake action in here, but to tell you the truth I'm not much of a fan of Cassie! Sorry! But thankyou very much for the review!

**Asian Angel 1 **Thankyou for the reviews for both the Crash and The Fear! (You are like one of six to actually review the Fear which is an accomplishment so woo hoo!)

**Birdtears **You probably haven't read this in a while but I like to thank all my reviewers and your one of them so THANKYOU!


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